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RAILROAD 


SUPPLIES 


1 






PAY-R OLLS 


AND 




EMPLOYES. 






JOHN C. RANKIN, JR.. 84 CORTLANDT 3T. N .1 


















































S UPPLIES, 

PAY-R OLLS 

AND 



V C 


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-if so S' 

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 
Benjamin Norton, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 






CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Introductory,.5 

The Purchasing Agent—H is Qualifications and Province, 7 

The Storeroom and Storekeeper,.18 

Contracts for Special Supplies, -.28 

Experiments—Oils, Paints and Varnishes, - 44 

Car Wheels and Axles — Iron and Glass, Metals and 

Lumber, -.57 

General Supplies and Old Material, ------ 64 

Pay-Rolls, - 75 

Employes—Their Government and Treatment, - 84 

Notes, --------.93 










INTRODUCTORY. 


There may be nothing new involved in the discussion 
of the subjects contained in this little book, but it may 
tend to bring three very important features of railroad 
management more directly to the notice of railroad 
owners and officers. 

An economical management of any business is neces¬ 
sary to insure its success. Railroad properties, in par¬ 
ticular, being so vast and requiring the union of so many 
departments to make up the whole, are in danger of 
heavy losses and perhaps bankruptcy, unless especial 
attention can be 'paid to minute details in their opera¬ 
tion. 

The science of railroad management is growing more 
complete every year. While combinations and pools aid 
in maintaining rates and serve to increase the income 
and attention is paid to securing additional business in 
every way possible, oftentimes the outgo is overlooked, 
to the detriment of dividends and the general welfare of 
the road. If, however, the road be operated for the 
benefit of a few private interests only and not*for the 
stockholders, this can be done to the best advantage 
through the medium of supplies and pay-rolls—the prin¬ 
cipal sources of leakage, extravagance and waste under 
a lax management. 

New York, February igth, i886. 




M 


The Purchasing Agent—His Qualifications and Province. 


The purchasing agent of a railroad company, under 
a proper management of his department, can be one of 
the most important elements of that company’s success. 
He can assist largely in putting it upon a dividend pay¬ 
ing basis, and save thousands of dollars, which might 
otherwise be wasted and perhaps never noticed. 

This position should be filled by a man of the highest 
honor and integrity, coupled with a reasonable amount of 
shrewdness and aptitude for such business. The pur¬ 
chasing department of a railroad is one of the most in¬ 
teresting of all. It takes in nearly all the known branches 
of business, and while the buyer cannot, under ordinary 
circumstances, thoroughly master the whole field, so 
that he can be an expert in all things, he can, neverthe¬ 
less, inform himself in the most important articles of 
manufacture to the extent of preventing deception or 
fraud. He should exercise patience, for at times such a 


8 


quality may be sorely tried. He will be importuned by 
countless numbers of second rate salesmen, and pursued 
by men who believe that plenty of “brass” is the only 
necessary quality in a man who sets out to introduce his 
goods. After experience, he will conclude that, in these 
days, when business requires constant looking after to 
ensure success, the first main thing is to never believe 
more than fifty per cent, of what anyone tells him. 

Some large companies are accustomed to turn their 
supply orders in special directions, to the exclusion of 
many good and reputable firms, who could perhaps serve 
them better, and at lower prices. The result of this, 
many times, is an inferior quality of material, for as rail¬ 
roads generally appear to be common plunder, any firm 
who can control a road in their line of business, feel at 
liberty to make all they can out of it while the season 
lasts. They are apt to charge high prices for second 
rate material, and if they make provision ahead with the 
right ones, as is sometimes done, there is little danger of 
any complaints ever being made. 

Nearly every stockholder and director of a railroad 
has a line of friends in business, who importune him at 
home, in the clubs and at his office, to give them such let¬ 
ters to the purchasing agent that the orders for the par¬ 
ticular product they deal in or manufacture maybe turned 
in their direction. So long as the dividends are paid, the 
average director does not realize how many dollars are 
being wasted outside through the supply department. 
A railroad, in all its branches, should be carried on upon 
a strict business basis, and no other. Many companies, 
which to-day are bankrupt and in receivers’ hands, might 
be paying institutions if properly managed. Perhaps in 
the matter of supplies alone they might save enough to 
at least meet all deficiencies in the matter of expenses 


9 


and charges. The purchasing agent should be untram¬ 
meled. He should be allowed to buy where he sees fit, 
and if he be the right man in every particular, there is 
little danger of losses or waste in his direction. It is not 
uncommon to place the purchase of supplies in some 
office where there is already enough to do in other mat¬ 
ters. As a result, orders are made for goods with¬ 
out the question of price being asked. There is no time 
to go into that detail. The Superintendent or his clerk 
takes it for granted that the price will be right, and does 
not for a moment think that there may be some firms 
who are more anxious to sell than their neighbors. Some 
roads, of course, are so small and their demands so com¬ 
paratively light in the way of supplies that a special buyer 
is not really necessary; but under such circumstances, 
even, there is a chance to economize which is often over¬ 
looked. In any case, the only proper way to make the 
necessary purchases is by a system of bids and competi¬ 
tion honestly conducted. By selecting a half dozen or 
more reputable houses, which deal in certain kinds of 
supplies, and giving them to understand that they are all 
competing upon the same basis, and that the lowest bid¬ 
der for quality of material will receive the orders, a quiet 
competition may be started by which the company will 
derive the benefit. The orders should be full and ex¬ 
plicit, and the question of quality should always be care¬ 
fully considered. Supplies, however, are sometimes pur¬ 
chased in a hurry and used in a hurry, and often inferior 
material is used through immediate necessity, which may 
afterwards be the cause of untold damage. 

Buying from supply houses which deal in all known 
railroad appliances, from brooms up to locomotives, is 
not in the end economical. Such firms buy at no lower 
prices ordinarily than a railroad company can, and of 


10 


course have a profit to make. In some cases, however, 
such a firm may be the authorized agent of some mill or 
factory, and its product may be bought for less money, 
through that house, than it can be anywhere else. Where 
the agent is bound to be protected by his principal, a 
lower price can sometimes be made with the agent than 
with his principal, but such instances are rare. It is cer¬ 
tainly convenient to patronize a firm who have most 
everything that railroads require under one roof, but 
the purchasing agent who attends properly to his busi¬ 
ness will busy himself in looking up different houses, and 
going fully into the matter when he has anything in par¬ 
ticular tobuy. The odd dollars saved in small things go 
far towards keeping up the dividends. 

The disposition usually, as we shall see, among the 
different departments of a road is to call for more material 
than is actually necessary. For this reason a good deal of 
money may be tied up in something, which eventually finds 
its way to the scrap heap and is sold for less than half its 
original cost. The purchasing agent should in a measure, 
if he be a man of good judgment, have the privilege of 
cutting down wants which he thinks are excessive. He 
is often in a position to know, and it is always easier to 
buy more, if there is not enough, than to dispose of an 
excess. It is certainly more economical. It is always 
well in any case never to buy more than one month’s sup¬ 
ply of ordinary material, and particularly so if a road is 
situated in such way that supplies can be delivered on 
short notice. The matter of quality is of much conse¬ 
quence. The company that would make it a point to al¬ 
ways call for the very best material might never get any¬ 
thing that was inferior; but there are so many articles, 
which are in constant demand, and serve only an ordinary 
purpose, that to buy the best would be nothing but ex- 


travagance. The purchasing agent who makes it his 
study to learn what needs to be the best, and what not, 
can economize for his company to an almost unlimited 
extent. It would be folly to purchase cheap and inferior 
car wheels, and on the other hand bad judgment to buy 
the most expensive feather dusters or brooms. The field 
is extensive, and the sooner railroad companies realize 
that a purchasing agent is not a mere order clerk, and 
make selections for this position which are carefully con¬ 
sidered, the sooner they will discover that their disburse¬ 
ments for supplies are materially less, and that the bulk 
of the leakages and waste ‘finds its source in the supply 
department. A railroad company is not a charitable insti¬ 
tution where the manager’s friends can find an easy way 
of making money. There is no reason why it should not 
be conducted in the same manner as any other business, but 
unfortunately the instances are not common where it is. 
It is best to buy from manufacturers or their agents directs 
as a general thing, and only patronize commission men 
or supply houses when compelled to. If the supply of any 
article runs out through the carelessness of some head of 
department or the storekeeper, it is often convenient to 
order in the hurry from such a store. Otherwise the service 
and prices from the manufacturer are far more preferable. 

A purchasing agent who strives to make his depart¬ 
ment a success, should not have a host of friends in the 
supply business, for in the end some of them are apt to take 
advantage of such friendship, and the road unfortunately 
suffers for it. They will reason him into the belief that 
there is such a vast difference in the quality of material, 
that to buy of a firm he does not know may result in his 
getting an inferior grade of material at high prices—higher 
than he ought to pay, and all the time they may be 
serving him in exactly that way. They may induce him 


2 


to believe that to take an odd commission for his personal 
benefit is perfectly proper, for as they say, “your com¬ 
pany could not get that benefit any way, under the terms 
of our agreement with other firms, and you should have 
it, rather than to let it go,” but the company pays for it 
all in the end, and the buyer is tied up and always bound 
to buy from those friends contrary to his better judg¬ 
ment. By treating all comers on an equal basis, he can 
soon learn the best business houses and by competition 
among them save large sums of money. So long as 
the purchasing agent’s business is to buy, he is bound 
to entertain all comers, who have anything to sell which 
is worth buying. He should be civil and treat every one 
decently, as far as possible. 

Some men, unfortunately, are not good salesmen, 
and exercise bad judgment by either boring the 
Purchasing Agent by a long visit, or by being too 
forward in their endeavors to introduce their goods. 
The one who makes short visits and speaks directly 
to the point is the one who usually makes the best 
impression, while the salesman who feels that making an 
intimate acquaintance at the first interview is the sure 
road to success is not apt to be received with open arms 
the next time he presents his card. Some purchasing 
agents, however, are in the habit of posting general notices 
about their offices to the effect that “no oil is wanted,” 
or the “varnish we are using suits us exactly,” or perhaps 
there will be a club hanging upon the desk conspicuously, 
which may be an idle threat to every visitor that it will 
be used bodily, unless his manner is pleasing. Such 
things are not only unbusiness like, but they have ab¬ 
solutely no effect. They have no more effect than the 
words “private” or “no admittance,” upon a door 
front. There are always plenty of people to go 


13 

right in when they are confronted by that sort of a 
notice. 

A sharp salesman will endeavor to make a buyer be¬ 
lieve that he is selling his goods to him at a much 
lower figure than he would to any one else, or that he 
has named such a low price that he would really rather 
not take the order; but under such circumstances it is a 
wise plan to look further. There is a certain line of 
operations which skillful salesmen go through when offer¬ 
ing goods for sale, but after some experience a sharp 
buyer is able to fortify himself against the best of them. 
They tell of a varnish salesman who disposed of ioo 
barrels of varnish in small lots to different buyers on a 
sample of maple syrup; but on the other hand the sales¬ 
man who replied when a buyer asked him if his oil 
Ci gummed,” that it “ gummed beautifully,” lost all chance 
of ever again selling him any goods. Some have a faculty 
for dropping in just at the right time, and the circumstances 
may be such that they go away with the orders, while 
the one who has been looking for trade for a month is. 
defeated in getting any business from that source. Many 
firms have a custom of presenting their specialties by 
circular letter entirely, presuming that an attractive sheet 
is less expensive and more productive of good results, 
than a smart salesman; but it is surprising how many 
good sized waste baskets are daily filled with this sort of 
literature. 

As a rule, after the system of competition has been, 
completed, supply orders find their way in certain 
directions, for the business firms who are satisfied 
with frequent sales and a fair and reasonable profit, 
make a point of estimating very low every time, just low 
enough any way to secure the trade. It is a good plan,, 
however, to notify the unsuccessful bidders, to give them 


14 


an idea of the price the order was placed at; for the next 
time they may slyly put in a lower bid, and the company 
get the benefit. This insures a better quality of material, 
too, for as a general thing, the competing firms are not 
willing to risk their reputations under the circumstances 
and lose possible future business. 

Every purchasing agent will of course have his own 
methods ; but, as in other things, there are a few funda¬ 
mental principles which must be observed to insure a 
satisfactory and successful working of his department. 
The end should be economy for the road and the means 
to that end are an honest conduct of his office and a close 
attention to his business. Signing an order for $5,000 
worth of material is one thing, but to be satisfied that 
all the discounts are allowed and that the material re¬ 
ceived is worth the price paid for it, is another. The 
careful buyer will follow up everything he buys to the 
furthest point, to guard against deception, and he will 
watch closely to find out if any one on the road is profit¬ 
ing by the purchase he has made with so much care. It 
is not uncommon for some foreman or man in authority 
on the road to specify some special brand of oil or other 
supply in his requisition; but there is often more in the 
name than in the quality, and one will find perhaps that 
some scheming salesman has promised the fellow an odd 
10 per cent, for the successful turn of the order. The 
best and only test of the quality of an article is the service 
it will bear in actual use. Printed statements and com¬ 
parative showings of some wonderful compound do very 
well sometimes, but it is not always easy to learn exactly 
how such gratifying results have been obtained. The 
purchasing agent generally is in as good position to know 
of the merits of any article as the foreman in the shops, 
and the truth is no two foremen in railroad shops or 


i5 


any where else have identical opinions on the quality of 
any one thing. One reports it good and the other pro¬ 
nounces it bad. It is safe under such circumstances to 
believe that it is fair to middling, or as good as the average. 
A purchasing agent has to contend with all these things. 
He must be prepared to hear bad reports at once if he has 
changed the brand of car oil, or has given some new firm 
an order for cooling compound. After a time, provided 
he is so placed that he can act upon his own judgment, 
he will turn a deaf ear to such complaints and buy where 
he pleases in the face of tremendous opposition. The 
engineer who could not use anything but “ unparalleled 
valve oil” made an unfortunate exhibition of himself when 
he pronounced a common oil worth half as much, but 
bearing the name of his pride on the barrel, “so good 
that he could tell it as soon as he felt of it.” 

It is always a good plan to continue the purchase and 
use of any good article rather than to change about and 
experiment with something new, but it may not always 
be necessary to confine the orders for it to any one par¬ 
ticular house. There isalways a chance to get lower 
prices—down to a reasonable basis, of course—getting 
prices so low, however, that one is satisfied that the firm 
who makes them cannot possibly serve him with the 
material he expects is wrong. There should always be 
a margin of profit allowed in every case. Anxiety to 
do business with railroad companies prompts some firms 
to put prices so low to begin with, in order to establish a 
trade, that they sell for cost or less with the hope of 
making it up later on. Unless they are closely watched 
they are apt to take advantage of the company in the end. 
It is well under such circumstances to let the first order be 
the last. Sometimes an extra discount may be obtained 
by adopting the tactics of the countryman, who, when 


i6 


buying a horse, said to the seller, “ Name me your very 
lowest price and I will make you an offer.” After the 
estimates are all in a shrewd buyer can feel of the lowest 
bidder down to the point of an additional 2% % or 5 %. 
This all depends upon the circumstances. Unless one is 
cut out to be a close buyer, however, any rule of action 
as to trading is out of the question. The salesman did 
not leave the purchasing agent in much doubt when he 
said that “he was authorized by his firm to name seven¬ 
teen cents per gallon for their oil; if that did not take 
the order to name sixteen cents; and, if that was too 
much, then to name fifteen cents.” There was certainly 
no doubt ab,out the inability of that salesman. 

Market prices are constantly changing, and one must 
learn the state of things by frequent quotations. Trade 
journals give one some idea of the tendency, up or down, 
of the markets, but they are not always reliable. The 
best and only test of the condition of trade are the 
prices at which parties are willing to sell their goods. 

Purchasing ahead on the strength of some prospective or 
imaginary rise in the market is bad judgment ordinarily. 
From year to year buying at the going prices is the best 
and most economical. It is well to follow the old pre¬ 
cept, “Never buy anything because it is cheap unless 
you want it.” Accumulated material that is and never 
will be used is cumbersome and expensive to carry; in¬ 
ventories are lumbered up with it, while it lies on the shelf 
an eyesore to everybody interested. Constant attention 
and study are absolutely necessary. An old fogy in the 
position of purchasing agent, with set notions about men 
and things, is a detriment to the road and the success of 
his department. It would be next to impossible for him 
to appreciate any genuine labor-saving device or anything 
new and valuable in the way of lubricating material. He 


should be alive to everything new in the shape of practical 
railroad appliances. If any one imagines that railroad 
management has now reached a stage of absolute perfec¬ 
tion he is very much mistaken. The tendency is towards 
improvement all the time. The next thirty years will 
doubtless show as much change for the better as we have 
experienced in the past three decades. A wise selection 
for the head of the supply department will be the means 
of immense saving, and the road struggling to pay its 
dividends, or meet even its fixed charges, can do much 
toward that end by putting an honest, judicious and 
shrewd buyer in that position. The railroad president 
who said “ he had no friends to support at the expense 
of his company” struck the keynote of the after success 
of the company he represented. 


The Storeroom and Storekeeper. 


On every well regulated railroad, which is not so large 
and wide extended that it would be impossible to dis¬ 
tribute supplies economically from one central point, 
there should be a general storeroom and a storekeeper, 
who should give his time and attention exclusively to 
receiving and distributing supplies on requisitions properly 
signed and approved. The storeroom is properly the 
intermediate stage, so far as supplies are concerned, 
between the different departments of the road and the 
auditor. It should be large enough to accommodate the 
bulk of the supplies necessary, and in addition, there 
should be storage room outside in which to carry most of 
the heavy and cumbersome materials. The arrangement 
of it should be convenient, so that there may be a place 
for everything, and it should be orderly and systematic¬ 
ally conducted. It ought to be located at or near the 
principal shops where most of the material is used. 


19 


Everything distributed from it should be carefully 
accounted for. The plan should be not at all different 
from that in use in a well regulated country store, where 
everything from a paper of pins to a load of hay is car¬ 
ried in stock. An account should be opened with every 
department which is in the habit of drawing from the 
general supplies. Besides this, there should be a run¬ 
ning account with each locomotive, station agent, switch¬ 
man, conductor and flagman. On this basis everything 
can be accounted for minutely. If the books are care¬ 
fully and properly kept there need be no discrepancies 
whatever beyond the ordinary loss and leakage expe¬ 
rienced by every keeper of a store. Daily entries should 
be made, so that from day to day the exact standing as 
to expenditures may be learned of any locomotive, station 
agent or flagman. Under a proper system, this work can 
be so simplified as to be comparatively easy, if the store¬ 
keeper himself be a good accountant and has the right 
sort of clerical assistance. 

On some roads the storekeeper and purchasing agent 
are combined under one head, that of “ Commissary,’> 
or some other descriptive title. By this the whole sup¬ 
ply department, including the purchase, receipt and dis¬ 
tribution of material is under the control of oneman, direct. 
But there are some objections to this arrangement. It 
is not well to have the buyer receive the supplies and ac¬ 
count for them too, for there is a chance for fraud and 
dishonesty. The storekeeper being distinct from the 
purchasing agent, may act as a check upon him, and vice 
versa. If the road be large and the supply department 
extensive, it will be more economical for the company 
to have each branch of that department entrusted to 
the care of separate individuals, for it may require the 
buyer’s whole attention to get prices and order the sup- 


20 


plies, while the storekeeper’s time may be fully occu¬ 
pied with the receipt and distribution of them. 

The storekeeper must carry some material in stock, on 
his own requisition, such as matches, lamp chimneys, 
soaps, oils, and other odds and ends; but usually the 
more expensive supplies, like some kinds and sizes of iron, 
copper sheets, car wheels and special material needed in..-* 
the mechanical department are purchased on requisitions > 
from that department, through the storeroom. Here comes 
the danger of ordering too much of any one supply, which" 
is carried in stock finally, from month to month, and 
then sold as old material. This arises generally from the 
carelessness of some foreman who, directed to undertake 
a particular work requiring a large quantity of material, 
calls for twice as much as he needs, feeling that so long 
as he can get it, on a regular requisition, that it will be 
better to have too much rather than not enough. He 
little thinks of the subsequent loss to the company, and 
as a general thing cares little. 

A careful foreman or mechanic can figure to extreme 
nicety the exact quantity of material he may require. 
The average man, if it were his own business and he had 
the bills to pay, certainly would. Some times there is 
an excuse for an excessive purchase. Railroad managers 
often conceive some improvement or change necessary, 
and, on the spur of the moment, direct the superintendent 
to proceed with the work. Purchases are made, and after 
delivery the plans are changed entirely or the improve¬ 
ment is decided to be unnecessary. If the material be 
such that it can be returned to the seller without loss 
to him, he-may be induced to take it back. Oftentimes 
it is otherwise. 

Among large bodies of men, as we find them on rail¬ 
roads, it is next to impossible to secure careful and hon- 


21 


est help entirely in all the various branches, so that the 
heads of departments must be ever watchful for the in¬ 
terests of their company. If they are, the danger of 
dishonesty and carelessness on the part of those under 
them can be materially decreased. 

There is nothing that looks so bad about a railroad 
yard as an accumulation of material which lies year after 
year in one spot, and finally becomes a fixture. Much 
of it has never been used, and never will be, for it has 
accumulated through the carelessness of some foreman, 
who did not have the interests of his company directly at 
heart. The customary body of an old fashioned car, used 
as a yardmaster’s office, on a railroad dock, is not near so 
uninteresting a sight as an accumulation of expensive 
supplies, which are going to waste behind the machine 
shops. The storekeeper, then, should be allowed the privi¬ 
lege of looking into requisitions, too, and if he is satisfied 
that the demands are excessive, he should regulate his 
call for supplies upon the purchasing agent accordingly. 
The tendency is always towards calling for too much, 
rather than too little. Every agent and flagman demands 
twice as much as he can use. To satisfy their presumed 
wants, on the average railroad, would require a ten story 
building and a ten acre lot besides. Requisitions should 
be pared down to the finest point. Where the store-room 
is situated near the markets, as it sometimes happens, sup¬ 
plies can be delivered on very short notice, and there is 
absolutely no necessity of carrying a large quantity of 
material in stock. When it arrives it should be care¬ 
fully entered on the receiving book, correct count 
should be made, or the goods weighed* or meas¬ 
ured. 

It is safe to say that in the average supply department 
of a railroad the idea of gauging, or measuring carefully, 


22 


every barrel of oil or other liquids is never thought of. 
As a matter of fact, the loss in this direction may be very 
heavy, and the company will discover that on the average 
they are paying for from one to two gallons of oil in 
every barrel which they never get, even allowing for a 
reasonable amount of leakage or waste. The necessity 
of correct weight and measure is very important—and 
this should be attended to immediately, on the arrival of 
the material. Oil, the quantity of which required is very 
heavy, should be immediately placed in tanks, provided 
for the various kinds, to guard against leakages, which 
may happen when it is left to stand in barrels. By a 
pump and measure it can be given out as wanted. Shelves 
should be arranged to accommodate the ordinary sup¬ 
plies, which should be unpacked at once and placed 
conveniently. As the supply decreases the storekeeper 
can, at a glance, learn when to call for more. If it is 
necessary to have a sub-storeroom, at some other point 
on the road, the supplies for that should be drawn from 
the general storeroom, and accounted for to the general 
storekeeper every day, as they are distributed. The whole 
thing can be reduced to a perfect system, if the store¬ 
keeper is alive to his business. All material should be 
purchased, subject to inspection on arrival, barring a pos¬ 
sible damage while in transit, and no firm, who calcu¬ 
late to serve their customers just right, should be un¬ 
willing to have their goods submitted to such inspec¬ 
tion. 

Material which cannot well be kept in the storeroom 
stock, such as very heavy plate iron, car wheels, castings 
and axles, may be delivered direct to the mechanical de¬ 
partment or shops, but the storekeeper should satisfy 
himself as to count, or measure, or weight, by examining 
such supplies in person, if possible. The master mechanic 


should render him a correct account of what he actually 
uses of it each day, so that entries can be made daily 
in the general books, and charges put to the proper 
account. This is far better and more business-like than 
to charge out the whole quantity, as soon as it arrives, to 
some particular account. The latter way may be the 
shortest and easiest, but it never can be the most cor¬ 
rect. 

The same plan should be adopted for all departments, 
if necessary. Everything in the nature of supplies, how¬ 
ever, large or small, should directly or indirectly pass 
through the storeroom. Even rails, ties and locomotive 
fuel, should take the same course. It brings the whole 
matter to a head, and makes a perfect and satisfactory 
system. Nothing should be given out without an order 
on the storekeeper, properly signed by the head of the 
department in which the material is used. His regula¬ 
tions in this regard should be very rigid. This cannot be 
made too important, for if every one and any one has the 
privilege of calling directly for what he thinks he wants, 
the waste and consequent loss may be incalculable. On 
most railroads, as soon as anything becomes out of re¬ 
pair, such as lamps, lanterns and pails, it is thrown away 
and new material purchased. The cords of signal lamps 
and lanterns wasted every year in this way is something 
astonishing. So far as lanterns are concerned, it is an 
excellent as well as economical idea to make every train 
hand and flagman deposit the value of his lantern in 
money at the time he gets it. On the return of the lan¬ 
tern he can have the amount refunded. As soon as the 
pocket is touched, it is surprising how careful and precise 
men become. All lamps, lanterns and supplies, or ma¬ 
terial, which can be repaired, should be sent in imme- 
diatelyjas soon as they become out of order,and repaired. 




24 


A tinsmith can easily put them in shape again, and 
material made as good as new. The saving in this direc¬ 
tion may be immense. A tinsmith employed in the store¬ 
room for this purpose, as well as in the manufacture of 
new material, will save his salary to the company many 
times over. He can make all the tin cans, pails, and 
station lamps, and repair them all, at much less than it 
would cost to purchase them from the dealers, or have 
them repaired outside. 

The storekeeper should arrange to send in his requisi¬ 
tions for supplies once each month, as nearly as possible. 
There are occasions during the month, usually, when it 
is necessary to send special calls for material, where some 
new work is contemplated, perhaps, but, as a general 
thing, the ordinary # supplies can be provided for at one 
time. These requisitions should be made up from his 
own memoranda, and the demands from the different 
departments. They should be distinctly and fully pre¬ 
pared, and forwarded to the Superintendent for his ap¬ 
proval, and by him presented to the Financial Committee 
or Vice-President, who, if he approves of the purchases, 
will hand them to the purchasing agent for his attention. 
Of course, in the hands of the different ones who examine 
them, requisitions should be always closely scrutinized. 

While it is safe to say that the calls for supplies are 
usually excessive, requisitions for them should be cut 
down intelligently and after deliberation. The super¬ 
intendent who reduced a requisition for fifty pounds of 
chalk to twenty-five pounds, on the ground that it was 
extravagant and unreasonable, did not consider that he 
saved his company but twelve and a-half cents, while he 
allowed an unnecessary demand for ten tons of iron to 
go through without question. All requisitions should 
show the cost of the proposed purchases as near as 


25 


possible. By this there is little danger of expensive, 
and perhaps unnecessary, material being ordered. All 
bills for supplies should be sent, promptly, by the pur¬ 
chasing agent, to the storekeeper, who should imme¬ 
diately check them against the goods received, make 
deductions, if necessary, for shortages or errors, and re¬ 
turn them with his acknowledgment of receipt, to the 
purchasing agent, who will approve the prices, and 
turn them over to the cashier or treasurer for pay¬ 
ment. 

Some railroad companies, unfortunately, are not in po¬ 
sition to make prompt payment of bills. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances the cost of supplies may be more than it 
would be if the bills were settled every month. The 
firm who are not able to know whether they are to be 
paid in thirty or ninety days, must calculate accordingly. 
If, however, the company can do it, conveniently, all 
supply bills should be paid promptly each month. It will 
then be able to get all the discounts possible, which to a 
company that requires a good deal of material, means 
many thousands of dollars saved in the course of the 
year. 

The storekeeper should be selected on account of 
his ability as an accountant. He should, besides, be 
quick and attentive, and follow up the supplies under his 
charge as far as possible. He, as well as the purchasing 
agent, should be more or less of an expert in railroad^ 
material, and devote his undivided attention to the de¬ 
tails of his department, which are considerable, if he 
takes such account of the receipt and distribution of 
material as he ought. His province so far as the econ¬ 
omical results to the company are concerned, is extensive. 
A sharp, close storekeeper may save a good many dollars 
to his company under a careful conduct of the storeroom. 


26 


His is also one of the most important departments of a 
road. If the buyer of railroad stocks, besides looking into 
the possibilities of the returns from freight and passenger 
business for his decision, would look a little into the 
method adopted for the purchase and distribution of sup¬ 
plies on any road in which he may be interested, he 
might get enough information to satisfy himself that 
a large portion of the earnings were dribbling out 
through the storeroom, and that unless a change be 
made in that particular his stock would eventually not 
be dividend paying. 

Some roads are so large that it may not be convenient 
to provide a general storehouse. In such cases the sup¬ 
plies are ordered and sent direct to the department or 
shops where they are used. Then every department 
has its own storeroom. Often the material is not cor¬ 
rectly charged or accounted for, while the results are 
much less satisfactory than they are under the general 
storeroom plan. Any company, however, which can pos¬ 
sibly conduct its supply department by the direct agency 
of a storekeeper, will find the results economical and sat¬ 
isfactory. Frequent inventories are not out of place, 
perhaps two each year would be sufficient. In any 
event material will be discovered which will probably 
never be used, and which can be disposed of by sale. It 
is better to sell it than to carry it in stock on the suppo¬ 
sition that it will be in need some time. A hurried in¬ 
ventory serves no purpose. Everything on hand should 
be carefully counted weighed or measured. The result 
should be compared with the receipts and disbursements 
since the previous inventory to learn how correctly the 
accounts have been kept, and the material disbursed. 
There will always be shortages in some things. In 
Y others the stock will run over; but the average should 


27 

show, that had the storekeeper been conducting it as his 
own business, he would have made money for any given 
period of time. 

As in the purchase of supplies, so in the receipt and dis¬ 
tribution of them there are a few fundamental principles 
to be observed. The main requirements are to get all 
that the invoice calls for; to see that there are no wastes 
or leakages, beyond an ordinary amount; that the 
material is economically distributed, and that the proper 
charge is always made in any disbursement. One whose 
interest is solely in his business and who feels that per¬ 
haps his salary may be behind if he does not exercise the 
utmost care, will accomplish all that his company can 
expect of him in the management of the storeroom under 
his charge. All statements and reports from the store¬ 
room covering the matter of distributions and charges 
should be made by the storekeeper to the auditing 
department direct, and while in some respects the store¬ 
room is a part and parcel of the auditor’s office, the 
7 storekeeper should be under the direction of the purchas¬ 
ing agent, as to the general management of his affairs. 


Contracts for Special Supplies. 

While ordinary supplies may be arranged for as 
required, and purchased from month to month upon 
regular requisitions, there are some which should be pro¬ 
vided for in advance. These include coal, rails and 
ties, castings, stationery, passage tickets and time-tables. 
It is not uncommon, on some English roads, to make 
yearly contracts for nearly all the supplies required ; but 
there is really no necessity to make special provision 
ahead for any materials beyond those just mentioned. 
More money is expended for these items than for any 
others, and contracts for their delivery, at a fixed price, 
for the period of at least a year, can usually be made to 
the best advantage of the road. The delivery of supplies 
which are absolutely essential to the running of the 
trains must be provided for in any event. The necessity, 
then, for making contracts with responsible companies or 
firms is very apparent. 


28 


29 


Locomotive fuel is one of the most important matters 
of all in railroad expenditures. The road must be oper¬ 
ated and the trains run, and up to the present time the 
only known means of generating steam is by heat, prop¬ 
erly applied. Coal is the necessary element. Some 
roads still make use of wood, but only so because it can 
be had along the line of those roads for less than the cost 
of coal. On the worst managed and most extravagant 
railroad in the country there is always a shadow or sug¬ 
gestion of economy. Many roads use nothing but hard 
or anthracite coal ; others consume the bituminous or 
soft exclusively, while some call for both kinds. In any 
case the engines must be arranged accordingly. The soft 
coal burning locomotive and the hard coal burner require 
each a peculiar arrangement of grate bars under the fire 
boxes. Generally speaking, perhaps the most econ¬ 
omical fuel is soft coal ; for while the price per ton is less 
than that of anthracite or wood, there is comparatively 
no waste. It all goes to serve its purpose ; but hard coal 
produces more or less waste in the shape of ashes, and 
under some circumstances accumulates clinker. If, how¬ 
ever, the passenger traffic be heavy, the use of soft coal 
entirely is a disadvantage and an objection. To the 
average traveler there is nothing more disagreeable than 
the smoke and cinders which emanate from it. If, besides 
this, the road be an especially dusty one, the combina¬ 
tion of dust, smoke and cinders will be quite sufficient to 
turn the tide of travel in some other direction or over 
some other route. For freight service soft coal is decid¬ 
edly the best. The company that provides hard coal 
burning engines for passenger trains and soft coal 
burners for freight does about the right thing and satisfies 
the public. 

Either kind, however, should be carefully tested 


30 


before a contract is made. Printed statements, show¬ 
ing a comparison of merits between various coals, 
are in no wise a criterion of actual excellence in the coal 
which shows to the best advantage on paper. The only 
test is practical use, as in other supplies. That which 
makes steam readily, with the least consumption, and 
which serves its purpose, with the least waste, is unques¬ 
tionably the best. Under the care or supervision of first 
class engineers and firemen a very satisfactory test can 
always be made. While on the coal roads so called, the 
coal which is mined along their lines is usually made use 
of for locomotive fuel, and the engines are constructed to 
burn it to the best advantage, such roads, out of the 
whole number in operation, are comparatively few. - Even 
though the coal be inferior for the purpose, it is, perhaps, 
cheaper for the companies, under the circumstances, to 
use it on account of the extreme low cost to them. So 
far as soft coal in particular is concerned, competition 
has brought about very low prices any way. The almost 
unlimited output of it in the Clearfield district of Pennsyl¬ 
vania has brought into the market countless varieties, 
although, as a matter of fact, there is very little differ¬ 
ence in quality between the soft coals mined in that dis¬ 
trict. While pne firm or company will advertise no smoke, 
comparatively no smell and no clinkers, these claims 
are not without parallel, and it is unnecessary to say they 
are entirely unfounded. The necessity for placing the 
trial of coals in the hands of the best engineers and fire¬ 
men is very apparent. While the actual consumption can 
be easily determined, it is difficult to get at other quali¬ 
fications. Left to average firemen, one pronounces it 
the most satisfactory ; another says it is good enough, but 
that he can see no difference between it and some other 
kind previously tested. Even in the trial of coals coming 


3i 

from entirely different sections of the country such returns 
are sometimes made. 

While the results may be conflicting, circumstances 
will determine for the company whether it is best and 
most economical to use one variety or another. Under 
the care of the right men, there should be no question. 
After a precise contract has been made all coal should be 
thoroughly inspected on arrival. Deliveries, which can 
be made directly from the mines on Cars without transfer 
or handling, are always best, for the breakage otherwise 
is a great source of waste and consequent loss. Frequent 
handling, as far as possible, should be prevented. Trans¬ 
portation to all parts of the country has grown so con¬ 
venient that most roads now are in position to receive all 
coal entirely by cars direct. 

Inducements offered to firemen to encourage as little 
consumption as possible, are always in order. As a 
general thing little attention is paid to it, and yet it is 
surprising how much may depend upon the good judg¬ 
ment of the fireman in this direction. Like all other 
supplies, coal takes the customary course and is liable to 
be wasted. The supply at the various coaling stations 
should be kept up to meet necessary demands, but there 
should never be so much carried in stock that there is 
danger of deterioration or loss through spontaneous com¬ 
bustion. 

Coal used at stations and in cars is another very 
important matter. Station agents and brakemen usually 
keep the stoves under their care so very hot that it 
requires an endless supply to satisfy their notions of com¬ 
fort. The average passenger coach, however, in winter, 
is intermittently an ice box and an oven, while an ordi¬ 
nary station could be utilized as a hot-house at any time. 
While, under the peculiar circumstances, it is difficult to 


32 


regulate the heat exactly, it is possible to decrease the 
average consumption of stove coal and get, at the same 
time, the requisite temperature by the exercise of a 
reasonable amount of judgment. A wasteful and care¬ 
less employe should be promptly discharged if he can¬ 
not be taught to practice economy. 

On a large road the matter of stationery is very 
important as well as expensive. It includes all the forms 
and blanks used in the conduct of the freight and passen¬ 
ger business—and there is an endless variety of them—the 
inks, pens, pencils, mucilage, sealing wax and envelopes, 
besides numberless other odds and ends. Perhaps the 
most important item of all are the envelopes. The 
hundreds of thousands of them used in the course of a 
year, even at low prices, represent thousands of dollars. 

Agents must send in daily reports. There must be 
covers for all the correspondence passing between the 
different departments, while the average daily amount of 
outside correspondence of the departments is very heavy. 
Economy exercised by the purchase of a very ordinary 
quality of envelopes for general use is well directed. 
There is no necessity for the best white paper. A cheap 
manila one, which can be used but once any way and 
then finds its way to the waste basket, is much less 
expensive. 

He would be a very extravagant man, indeed, who 
would enclose an order to a yardmaster in a cream white 
envelope at $2.50 per thousand, when the manila could 
be had at 75 cents for the same quantity. When papers 
or correspondence like daily reports from agents do not 
require to be sealed, the use of a heavy and well made 
manila envelope, which has no gum on the flap, can be 
used to great advantage. The daily reports of the busi¬ 
ness done at stations are always turned in by the agents 


33 


to the auditing departments. Envelopes for that pur¬ 
pose may be distributed with the name of that depart¬ 
ment printed on the face. They can be collected as they 
come in from day to day and re-distributed again by the 
stationery clerk. In this way the same envelope may 
be used for years. The author has invented an idea in 
the shape of an envelope for general use which can be 
repeatedly used. At any rate until it is worn out or lost. 
It is made of very heavy manila paper, linened at places 
Avhere it is most likely to wear out and is not to be sealed 
or written upon. The back, arranged somewhat like an 
old-fashioned wallet, can be readily closed and opened. 
On the front two slits or openings are made to accom¬ 
modate a flexible slip, with the names of two departments 
printed on opposite sides. It can be used over and over 
again for the transmission of papers and unimportant 
communications among the different departments by the 
insertion of the printed slips. It is surprising how many 
dollars can be saved in the use of envelopes. The aver¬ 
age railroad clerk, however, little thinks of it. He has a 
faculty for wasting more stationery in one day than would 
be necessary for the conduct of his duties for a week. He 
makes calculations on telegraph blanks, figures dis¬ 
counts and rates on the note heads of his department 
and practices at penmanship on the envelopes. To cover 
this daily waste, besides the necessary requirements, 
close contracts must be made, and cases where an 
ordinary quality of material can be used to advantage 
should not be overlooked. 

With very few exceptions, the blanks or forms 
required may be printed on manila paper, the price 
of which is very much less than the white. The 
inks and mucilage and such material should be of 
good quality, and so also the pencils. A cheap 


34 

lead pencil, in which the lead breaks and drops off in 
sections when being sharpened, is worthless. One well 
made pencil will outlast a dozen cheap ones. Forms are 
frequently going out of use, due to changes. The stock 
on hand of those particular blanks may be considerable. 
Instead of throwing them into the waste paper bag, they 
may be used in the offices to figure on. If necessary, 
they can be cut to size and put up in pads for this pur¬ 
pose. Unfortunately, however, even when a clerk is 
provided with such material, he will prefer to use the 
back of a way-bill or a sheet of letter paper. Perhaps 
the railroad clerk or station agent of the future may be 
able to exercise better discrimination. 

Some companies expect to save money by contracting 
for their blanks by weight rather than by the thousand; but 
there is little economy in that. It is not always the heaviest 
paper that is the best. There is likelihood of fraud and decep¬ 
tion, too. The most satisfactory way is to make contracts 
for blanks and forms by the year at a fixed price per 
thousand, depending upon the size and quality of paper 
required and the amount of necessary printed matter. 
Sufficient supply of everything should be carried in stock, 
but still only enough to meet the current demands. The 
same feeling which prompts an agent to call for too 
much in the way of brooms and oil suggests to him the 
notion of demanding a double supply of stationery. He 
will send for a box of sealing wax where he may not need 
but one stick. His capacity to lay away lead pencils, 
and inks is something horrible. Requisitions for station¬ 
ery should be filled by the stationery clerk once each 
month and at a fixed time in the month. Regularity is 
always in order. All requirements should be closely 
watched. Anything not necessary for the immediate 
Conduct of business should be withheld, although some 


35 


station agents think they are denied absolute comforts 
and necessaries when calls for plush-cushioned chairs and 
gold pens are not heeded. 

To induce the public to travel and to encourage ship¬ 
pers to send their freight over any road, attention must 
first be paid to the condition of the track and rolling 
stock. A ragged and ill-kept track and dirty and unsafe 
cars and engines are directly in the way of an economical 
and consequently successful operation of any road. The 
track is the fundamental feature. It is not economy to 
allow anything to be out of repair on the supposition that 
it is less expensive than it would be to spend compara¬ 
tively little from day to day to keep it up. The day of 
reckoning will come in the end and the sacrifice will be 
considerable. 

The ties and rails then should be the best. Iron 
rails are almost out of date. The time is coming 
when wooden ties will be. While in Europe metallic 
ones are already in use to some extent, the timber in this 
country is not yet by any means exhausted. On roads 
where the traffic is light heavy steel rails may not be 
necessary; but as a general thing, it will be economical 
to lay those which will not weigh less than sixty-five or 
sixty-seven pounds to the yard. Even heavier than this 
would not be ill advised. They require fewer ties to the 
mile, and consequently the force of men required to keep 
the track in condition is less. Any railroad man of 
experience understands fully that light rails are seon 
worn and battered out on a road over which heavy 
engines run and large trains are hauled. The powerful 
locomotives, as they are now built, require a well-kept 
track and a solid and substantial bed. As for ties, they 
are usually secured along the line of the road ; but the 
demands are so enormous on some roads that it is 


3 ^ 

impossible to purchase all that are necessary from the 
neighboring farmers and dealers. They contract ahead 
for yellow pine and other woods which are suitable for 
the purpose, and which come from a distance. Atten¬ 
tion, of course, should be paid to the lasting quality of 
the timber, but the ability to hold a spike firmly is the 
most important requirement of all. Circumstances will 
affect the life of any kind of tie. Where it is exposed, as 
it is liable to be, in a loose soil, it may not serve its pur¬ 
pose longer than three or four years. The action of the 
elements destroys it in a short time; but in a clay bed or 
heavy and close soil it may not be necessary to remove it 
under eight or ten years, and hewed ties, as experience will 
show, will last longer, under the same conditions, than 
sawed ones. There is nothing so unpleasing to the eye 
as a track which is laid over ties of unequal lengths and 
ragged ends. Special attention to this matter will not 
be misdirected. 

In a contract for cross ties the requirements as to 
square ends and equal lengths should be rigidly 
set down. Small ties, which have a narrow face for 
the rail bearing less than seven inches, are altogether 
undesirable in these times. They are only suitable for 
side tracks, and even there, should be used sparingly. 
They should all be stripped of bark and be of an even thick¬ 
ness—six to eight inches. Sappy edges, by which a large 
portion of the face or rail-bearing will be soon decayed, 
are sufficient, on inspection, to condemn any timber. 
Yellow pine, which within a few years has grown to be so 
important an article of railroad consumption, and espe¬ 
cially for cross ties, is liable to come with a large 
quantity of sap. Otherwise it might be the most suitable 
of all the varieties of timber for this purpose. If, how¬ 
ever, inspections are rigid and contracts precise, there is 


37 

little danger of being overburdened with a lot of sappy 
material of this sort. White oak is undoubtedly the most 
durable and toughest of all, but, except in certain sec¬ 
tions of the country, the growth of this timber is limited. 
Cedar, cypress, chestnut, oak and yellow pine are more 
commonly used than anything else. The millions of 
them used for renewals and new roads each year are 
reducing our forests, and like some of the European 
roads, we will some day fall back upon metal, which, 
while its life may not be measured, will make so rigid a 
track that the long traveler will be worn out with his 
journey and the rolling stock will require frequent repairs 
and overhauling. Until that time comes we will use 
what we can get for less money. 

Expenditures for ties are enormous. There should 
be every precaution against frauds and false returns 
of count and quality. The more checks employed 
to keep the tie inspector within bounds the better. 
Not that he invariably is disposed to defraud and 
cheat, but inducements are often thrown out to him 
on all sides by anxious contractors. Unless he be a man 
above suspicion, he may fall into some one’s net and rob 
his company of thousands of dollars. Where ties are 
procured along the line of the road and delivered as 
they are at stations, it is a good plan to hold the station 
agent responsible for all deliveries made at or near his 
station. The inspector is not likely to make false returns 
then, for his opportunity is diminished if the agent is 
called upon to make counts himself, and, in a measure, is 
held responsible for the number of ties and their safe 
keeping until removed by the construction train. To 
insure a good track, rigid tie inspections are necessary. 
All requirements set down in the contract should be 
looked for. Prices vary on different roads. While some 


38 

are able to contract for ties at 25c. to 35 c - eac ^’ others 
must pay from half a dollar to 65c. for what they need. 
Five cents saved in the cost of a tie may mean many 
thousands of dollars to the company that pays for them. 
Hence the necessity of buying them at close figures. 
The rails and ties are the foundation of the whole busi¬ 
ness of the road and need the most careful attention. 

There are hundreds of castings required for the various 
parts of railroad cars and locomotives. The brake 
shoes, pedestals, draw-heads and pockets necessary for 
the cars and the different parts for the locomotives must all 
be renewed from time to time as they are worn out or 
become broken. Cast iron, on account of the compara¬ 
tively small cost, is most commonly used; but malleable 
iron, for some of the special patterns, is growing to be 
somewhat in favor. They must all be made to order on 
patterns furnished by the company. If the company is 
not in position to do such work for itself, it must contract 
with some reliable foundry to undertake it. A year’s 
contract, at a fixed price, is none too long; and if the 
agreement is made at a time when the iron market is dull, 
the advantage to the company from a low price is very 
considerable. On a road which does a large business 
and has an extensive equipment, the daily demands for 
castings to keep up the ordinary repairs going on in the 
shops are very heavy. The foundry should be near the 
principal shops. If the road be a large one, and thereby 
requires several repair shops at convenient places along 
the line, the castings will be furnished by two or three 
different foundries near at hand. The special danger 
from having the foundry too near the shops is a disposi¬ 
tion on the part of shopmen to order material too fre¬ 
quently, if they have a standing arrangement with the 
foundry to call for what they want without stint. It is 


39 


sometimes easier to order a lot of grate bars and brake 
shoes from the foundry than to burrow into a mixed pile 
of castings on hand to find whether they are not already 
in stock. But when the foundry is conveniently near 
there is no necessity to order more than is required from 
day to day. 

Castings are apt to accumulate very rapidly. Like 
other material, many of them find a permanent rest¬ 
ing place behind the shops, or else after being car¬ 
ried in stock for two or three years, are sold at quarter 
their original cost. There may be an alarming waste, 
through unreasonable orders for castings. Shopmen 
should be watched closely to prevent it. 

If there is any institution known to the civilized world 
which must be carried on upon a systematic basis in all its 
branches it is a railroad. Discipline must be rigidly observed 
and everything done according to some plan. The road that 
is operated upon the most orderly basis is the one that 
encourages travel and pays its dividends. Most railroad 
shops are not conducted upon this theory, however, and 
it would be out of the question to expect the same 
system on the part of a mechanic that one would find in 
the auditor’s office or the train department. How¬ 
ever, this in a measure may be accomplished. In the 
matter of castings alone, if the master mechanic or 
foreman of the shops will have a place for every kind 
and keep a daily stock book, which he can do without 
special expense or trouble, he will materially reduce his 
expenses for this particular item; for he can see at a 
glance what he already has on hand and what he may 
require. 

It is always well to carry as little bulky material in 
stock as possible. The expense of handling it is a good 
deal, while the yard room is unnecessarily lumbered up. 


40 


What abuses railroads are subject to through the inef¬ 
ficiency and carelessness of some of the employes ! Any 
dealer in railroad supplies might well say, as did the 
celebrated manufacturer of mustard, that “ he had made 
his money not out of what had been consumed, but out of 
what had been wasted .” Friends to support and private 
interests to serve are the death knell of the road which 
is so hampered. 

When a railroad company takes up the question of 
time-tables, it has a matter of importance to handle 
which on most roads is little thought of or considered. 
If the passenger traffic is heavy and the number of travel¬ 
ers during the year counts up to millions, the calls for 
time-tables are plenty. Everybody wants one. - After 
he has satisfied himself as to whether he is in time for his 
train, or that he can reach his destination Sunday as well 
as any other day, he will consign the leaflet or folder to 
the waste basket or tear it up while he ponders over the 
idea of his journey. This refers directly to the time-table 
sheets which every company must keep on hand at its 
stations for the convenience of the public, beyond the 
cards that are framed as they are issued and hung 
up conspicuously on the walls of its waiting rooms. 

A neat and attractive folder, for general circulation, is 
very desirable, particularly if a road is paralleled by some 
other line and the competition is consequently strong. 
There is more virtue in a neatly gotten up schedule of 
trains than one would suppose. A traveler in doubt is apt 
to reason that if the road is kept up in a corresponding 
condition and the trains are made up on the same plan, 
he would prefer to go by that route rather than by the 
one which advertised its trains on a cheaply gotten up 
leaflet. But, after all, it would be extravagant to con¬ 
tract for elaborate title pages and expensive finish and 


4i 


the best quality of paper. Where the consumption runs 
up into the hundreds of thousands, two to three dollars 
per thousand saved in a contract for time-tables for 
general distribution is well directed economy. There 
can be money enough saved on time-tables in a year to 
pay for the services of a good many office boys and 
other necessary features in the general management. 

There is every necessity for exactness in the make up of 
the schedule of trains, both for public distribution and 
what are known as employes’ tables, and a contract 
should be made with a well conducted and reliable 
printing house. A close price should be made and great 
care taken not to have too many proofs rendered, when 
changes are made, for the printer’s charges for altera¬ 
tions in composition can be made very heavy. With time¬ 
tables as with other supplies, the quantity required 
should be carefully arranged for from time to time, so 
that when a new schedule goes into effect there will not 
be crates and boxes of old ones left over for the waste 
paper bag. The fact that the income of a road is heavy 
is no justification for heavy expenses which are not 
really necessary. The railroad man who serves his com¬ 
pany best is the one who, by good judgment and care, 
economizes in the right directions every time. Some 
men make a great show of economy, and the effect is 
often startling; but while they are straining at gnats they 
are swallowing full-sized camels. The results show for 
themselves in the end. 

Passage tickets are an item of great expense on roads 
whose passenger business is extensive. Beyond being 
numbered and prepared with precautions against frauds 
and false issues, there is no necessity for elaborate finish 
nor for a quality of cardboard or paper beyond what will 
serve the purpose exactly. Local tickets may be printed 


42 


on ordinary manila cardboard, which costs somewhat less 
than the white. They all serve but one purpose, and 
used once they are only worth what they will bring as 
waste paper. Tons of them are accumulated on some 
roads every year. It is better to grind them up and 
sell them than to burn them up, as is sometimes done. 
A few dollars return for what may have cost hundreds 
is better than nothing. Everything should be made 
to count. Accumulate nothing in the way of old 
material. Turn everything of this nature into money 
as fast as possible, for the average railroad company’s 
treasury needs all it can get, and often more. 

Ticket contracts should also be made from year to year. 
A shrewd manager of some bank-note company will 
induce the passenger agent of a railroad to use the 
most expensive production in the shape of tickets and 
will lead him to believe that flaring and costly cards 
of advertisement are absolutely necessary to the suc¬ 
cess of his company. Elegantly prepared cards are 
of little use in these days. Bill boards are covered 
with them. If they do not find their way into the maw 
of some hungry goat happening that way, attracted by 
the bright letters and gaudy illustrations, an idle boy will 
amuse himself by tearing them down. In any event, if it 
should be deemed wise to use this sort of advertisement, 
they should be distributed intelligently and placed where 
they will do the most good. Such expenditures for a road 
which has no competition are out of place as a general 
rule. 

If a road is operated for the benefit of the stock¬ 
holders, as it sometimes happens , special attention must 
be paid to the matter of supplies. A road stingily run 
and on which everything is pared down so finely that 
the employes are miserably paid and the supplies 


43 


used are the cheapest and most inferior, the cars 
dirty and unvarnished and the engines shaky and dan¬ 
gerous, may indicate a rich corporation, but it is not 
a good example of well directed economy. A bankrupt 
road, up to the time it loses all its credit, usually 
has about it twice as many employes as are neces¬ 
sary, and uses the most expensive and unnecessary 
supplies. There is a happy medium when all the 
employes are satisfied, passengers are delighted with 
the service, and there is no waste in the use or purchase 
of supplies. Perhaps none of us will live to see that con¬ 
dition of things; but the opportunity to bring it about, as 
far as possible, should not be overlooked. The wise 
managers will improve it. 



Experiments—Oils, Paints and Varnishes. 

As a general rule, it is useless and expensive to 
experiment with any device, compound or material 
which will not serve a practical and an economical pur¬ 
pose. Let the field once be opened for the test and use 
of anything and everything and a railroad company will 
be overrun with patent-right tramps and an endless 
horde of individuals, uncertainly balanced as to their 
mental capacity. 

It is wonderful what crowds there are; some induced by 
the hope of small gain in commissions, and others the 
original inventors themselves, with ideas of great profits, 
who thrust themselves forward, with devices to sell, which 
have little or no practical value. Elaborate oil com¬ 
pounds, delicate torpedoe machines, intricate door open¬ 
ers and alleged labor saving inventions of all kinds are 
offered without cessation. 


44 



45 


Few out of the many are worth anything. Perchance 
a useful contrivance may be unearthed or discovered out 
of the never ending variety. It is a singular fact, how¬ 
ever, and much to the credit of railroad men themselves, 
that the majority of such inventions are evolved from the 
brains of men who have no practical experience in 
railroad business. 

An apparently unique and never-failing torpedoe 
machine may be a very useful contrivance, when ob¬ 
served on paper or seen working in the shape of a 
model; but if applied to the track and the results show a 
general disruption of everything and everybody within 
reaching distance, it is not an economical nor useful 
thing to have on hand. 

Receipts for economizing in the use of oil and com¬ 
pounds to be mingled with lubricating material by which 
the consumption will be reduced, are so many and varied 
that it is not at all likely any one of them has ever 
proved a marked success. At any rate if any particular 
one be tested and adopted some importunate chap will 
offer something cheaper and doubtfully better, and the 
result will be no limit to opportunities. 

Better be reasonably bigoted and put up with a good 
thing than to be constantly experimenting with some¬ 
thing new and uncertain. Selfishly let some other com¬ 
pany get at the real merits and report rather than to 
blindly do it yourself. 

While a railroad company is bound to have in use all 
known appliances for the comfort of passengers and the 
safety of trains, it is not bound to satisfy the ambition of 
some wild theorist who is looking for a chance to put his 
notions into practical use. 

Car greases offered for a half cent a pound less than 
anybody else’s and guaranteed to do better service, may 


46 

set a train on fire or be the means of a broken axle and 
an inestimable loss in consequence. 

Many things, however, speak for themselves and show, 
directly, opportunities for saving or comfort. Such devices 
are not to be turned away lightly. If one offers a patent 
guard chair, made by upsetting the base of a portion of 
an old steel rail against its head, there is something there 
which at once proves itself to be better than a cast-iron 
one, which is easily cracked and broken. 

Perhaps a simple nut-lock will appeal directly to the 
good sense of a practical man, or maybe a positive wood 
preservative, the merits of which are plainly apparent, 
will attract the attention of his good judgment; but any¬ 
thing which is intricate in its make up, or which cannot 
be easily explained, as a general rule, is doubtful in its 
effect and should not be put in use or on trial. 

No responsible firm or company will undertake the 
manufacture and sale of anything which has no practical 
value, so that the railroad company which confines its 
purchases to such concerns is not liable to be deceived. 

The fellow who offers to sell a gross of patent pails and 
does sell them, knows well enough that it would be 
unsafe for him to call again on the same errand, for he 
not only may represent some mushroom company with¬ 
out capital, but is well aware that the bottoms will drop 
out at the first touch of water, or that the sides will burst 
open the first time they are used. 

The man who suggested the use of his patent claw for 
bringing a train to an immediate stop when under full 
headway, did not count upon such awful results as fol¬ 
lowed when the apparatus was tried. 

His theory was, perhaps, a good one; but no railroad 
company cares to have its tracks torn up and passengers 
jostled when such a theory is put into practice. 


47 


The iron coal picker which was guaranteed to work 
like a dredging machine did not prove itself an econom¬ 
ical appliance when it was only able to pick up one lump 
at a time and that uncertainly; nor did the advertised 
limpid and never-failing valve oil prove itself either pleas¬ 
ant or useful when it gummed up the machinery and 
smelt so badly as to be unendurable. 

We do not expect to jump immediately from the use of 
the air-brake to some other attachment which will bring 
a train to a full stop at once without damage or discom¬ 
fort. We must take all improvements gradually and 
reach the climax step by step. 

If a company be disposed to go into the wholesale trial 
of everything introduced it would be necessary to set 
aside a fund for that purpose, which, of course, would 
have to be frequently replenished. 

If all the sample oils turned in were put into a common 
tank, perhaps the mixture would be both cheap and use¬ 
ful, and if all the trial lots of varnish were well stirred 
together, no doubt the compound would last for ever if 
applied to the outside or inside of cars. 

While it is not the intention to decry absolutely a dis¬ 
position to improve, it is an undeniable fact that there are 
too many varieties of railroad supplies offered which are 
supposed to serve the same purpose. 

Every reputable business firm knows too well the com¬ 
petition it has to engage in with the hosts of unre¬ 
liable firms who take up anything that comes along. 
While the railroad companies must be always on their 
emard, general business suffers on account of such a con- 
dition of things. 

But there is, apparently, no limit, and it rests largely 
with the railroad companies, for their own protection, to 
bring about a change. And yet we may, by accident 


48 

entirely, step into something new which will revolutionize 
the present methods and devices altogether. 

What if some so-called crank should unintentionally 
hit upon some economical power beside steam or elec¬ 
tricity, or thoughtlessly run across some plan by which 
coal ashes would serve the same pufpose as the original 
fuel ? 

Possibly the company which calls for everything on 
the market will eventually reach the most economical 
results. It is, however, doubtful. 

The only safe rule to follow will be one which recom¬ 
mends a test of anything which has an undoubted prac¬ 
tical value, and the results of which can be quickly and 
easily determined without unusual expense. If the ex¬ 
pense of a test be considerable, let that fall upon the firm 
who are interested, for if successful, they reap the 
benefits quite as much as the railroad company. 

Sellers of oil, however, who guarantee to lubricate an 
ordinary train of cars for a million of miles by the use of 
a half pound of special grease or the application of a pint 
of some magically prepared compound are substantially 
out of date. It is reasonable to suppose that they have 
either been killed off or that men who tell the most 
elastic stories in these days of competition not being 
likely to secure much business, have concluded to adhere 
to the truth and trust to luck. 

An experienced buyer is in no danger now of being mis¬ 
led by the story of a salesman whose tactics might have 
been considered shrewd twenty-five years ago. Oilmen 
are proverbially in bad repute. This is not without reason, 
for perhaps the commodity in trade which is and has been 
the subject of the most abuse by adulteration and 
substitution is oil. This, above all other supplies for rail¬ 
road use, is the least satisfactory to buy on account of 


49 

the likelihood of adulteration and misrepresentation. 
The purchase of the most expensive oils for lubricating 
or illuminating purposes is not good judgment and is 
not economical. Sometimes, through force of circum¬ 
stances or by reason of special interests, a company is 
compelled to use a certain kind of oil, which may or 
may not be worth the price paid for it. If the direc¬ 
tors see fit to adopt the use of it, and generally they 
are not in position to know anything about its practical 
value, the purchasing agent is powerless to act, beyond 
signing his customary orders for it. No one dares to 
complain, while the oilers on the road go right on using 
it, little caring whether it cost ioc. or $i per gallon. 
They will consume an equal quantity under either circum¬ 
stance. 

The usual rule is, that when a special contract for 
oil is entered into, that contract calls for high priced 
goods. We never hear of a long contract for oils at 
ridiculously low figures. Some body or firm has the 
advantage, while the consequences take care of them¬ 
selves. On some roads common car oils are disadvan¬ 
tageous. Perhaps such roads are dusty and the test con¬ 
sequently severe, when the passenger trains are not only 
fast but heavy. Ordinarily a good, plain, substantial black 
oil for lubricating purposes is as good as any, if the proper 
attention be paid to the cold or fire test. Some com¬ 
panies will not use it on general principles. They are 
not then in position to know whether it is suitable or 
otherwise. If the weather is warm and the track dusty a 
little mixture of lard oil will do away with any possibility 
of hot boxes, which, however, are liable to occur from 
influences entirely outside of the oil. The brasses may 
either be new or old. In either case the results are 
sometimes the same. Trains are delayed, passengers- 


50 

complain, train men condemn the oil and investigation 
shows neglect in the shops, or other reasons which the 
oil could not affect. 

The salesman who shakes a small bottle of black oil 
in a purchasing agent’s face, with the statement that it 
is the best material ever made of that kind, may not be 
able to tell whether what he has in his bottle is natural 
West Virginia oil or black ink. The only safe test is by 
use. The fact that so many firms in the business are 
anxious to sell their mixed oils is sufficient proof that 
the margin of profit in that grade of goods is very large. 
Valve oils of doubtful compound, coach oils, purporting 
to have all the known requirements under the sun, and an 
engine oil, whichis better than any one else’s, are not to 
be purchased in a hurry for fear the supply is being rapidly 
exhausted. There will be plenty left for the next gener¬ 
ation of purchasing agents and railroad managers. 
When one sees an oiler pouring into a car-box twice as 
much as the box was made to hold and then watches the 
excess trickle to the ground and go to waste, he will 
satisfy himself that expensive oil is no more carefully 
used than if it be extremely cheap. The waste helps to 
make men rich when possibly they may lose money on 
the amount consumed in the service. 

Too cheap oils, however, are not advisable. The results 
may be very damaging. In the purchase of them there 
should be the same judgment exercised as in the contract 
for forms, blanks and stationery. Something that will 
answer the purpose to advantage and be ordinary enough 
to cover the usual waste is what is required. So little de¬ 
pendence can be placed upon the appearance of an oil 
that some of it purporting to be a superior grade may be 
nothing but the most ordinary kind; but the price paid 
for it may be high enough to cover the very best. It is 


5i 


better to begin with an ordinary article and go up to the 
right point than it is to adopt the very best and go 
down. 

Adulteration is not confined by any means to car or sig¬ 
nal oils The linseed oil for paints, as well as turpentine, is 
subject to the same abuse. Lard oil, especially when it 
comes to a question of the prime article, is not unfrequently 
treated to a process of adulteration in the hands of mid¬ 
dle men who, besides making a small commission out of 
their trade with the manufacturer, are desirous of realizing 
a good deal more out of their customers. But lard oils have 
just now grown so cheap that the adulterant is quite as 
•expensive as the real article What a profit there will 
be, however, when that oil reaches its normal price ! 
Buyers have become educated to the deceptions practised. 
Railroad companies which, perhaps, have suffered the 
most, are alive to the condition of things and move more 
cautiously. It might be a disastrous thing if signal lamps 
or lanterns should go out, through the use of bad oil, at 
the time when they were most needed. The necessity 
for the right kind is most apparent on roads over which 
frequent trains are run, and where the dangers of col¬ 
lision are common. The tendency is toward better ser¬ 
vice all the time, whereby these dangers are decreasing. 
A purchasing agent should exercise his judgment in the 
matter more or less. He will soon get the exact kind if 
his attention is honestly confined to his business. When 
it comes to so-called 150 fire test kerosene and 300° burn¬ 
ing oil, there arises the danger of not getting the degree 
of fire test which the order calls for. It should all be 
put to the tests adopted for the purpose. Both kinds of 
this oil to-day are very cheap and profits small, hence 
the disposition to deliver an inferior quality. The law 
compelling the use of 300° oil in all passenger cars 


52 


in this State is not well founded, for there is almost as 
little danger of explosion in the use of water white kero¬ 
sene as there is in the use of the 300°. As the lat¬ 
ter is much the heavier of the two it burns with less 
brilliancy, and our cars are badly lighted as a general 
thing. It would be more agreeable to passengers, and in 
the end more economical for the company, to adopt the 
use of gas for lighting all passenger coaches. 

Systems of this sort are in vogue by which a sufficient 
quantity of gas can be stored in or under the cars to last 
several hours, and the unpleasantness of oil and the use 
of chimneys can be done away with entirely. Some of 
the best roads have already put this method of lighting 
into practice, and with excellent results. 

It is exceedingly disagreeable to ride in a car which is 
badly lighted, and this may be due to the lamps rather 
than the oil. There is no reason why a traveler by night 
should not be able to read his book or paper as well on 
the train as in his private house. We strain our eyes 
in the vain endeavor to get light enough from badly 
arranged lamps, which are hung so high as to be useless. 
Instead of lighting the top of a car, as is usually the case, 
all car lamps, if in use, shulod be placed just low enough 
to escape the heads of the passengers as they go down 
the aisle, and should have reflecting shades set so low 
that all the light is thrown where it belongs. 

If good judgment be exercised in this particular, there 
is little danger of complaints. The one who will in¬ 
vent a perfect ventilation and an absolutely perfect and 
useful car lamp, or method of lighting cars, will accom¬ 
plish more for the benefit of the traveling public than he 
can in any other way. 

No oils should be purchased on samples submitted 
in small quantities unless there are most abundant facili- 


53 


ties for making the proper tests outside of practical use. 
A distinct understanding as to price and quality before 
the order is placed may relieve the company from any 
subsequent annoyances. Under no circumstances, if the 
road be honestly operated, should long contracts for a 
special kind of oil, either illuminating or otherwise, be 
made. 

The oil company that will send its emissaries 
about the country guaranteeing to save a road ten or 
twenty per cent, under their previous year’s consumption, 
and consequently reduce their bills if a contract be made 
for a year with it will, no doubt, reap a rich harvest while 
the trade is on ; but when it comes to a question of fulfill¬ 
ment of promise, will declare that it is impossible to get 
at exact figures on account of a possible increased mile¬ 
age or certain additional trains. 

Oil and varnish go hand in hand, as it were, and there 
is just as much danger of bad results in the one as the 
other. Varnish companies, judging from the expensive 
advertisements they resort to, and which somebody must 
pay for, have undoubtedly been more successful than the 
oil men. Some of them even resort to a wholesale dis¬ 
tribution of Waterbury watches as a means of bringing 
their product to the notice of the public. This may either 
indicate that the goods are equally as reliable (?) as that 
kind of watch, or else that the varnish company is finan¬ 
cially solid, for if itshouid take as long to wind up its 
affairs as it does to wind up the watch, there is little like¬ 
lihood of an immediate appointment of a receiver. We 
have seen that varnish so resembles maple syrup that 
even an expert cannot tell the difference at a glance. 
Purchases should therefore be made with extreme cau¬ 
tion. Maple syrup is well enough in its way, but it 
will not protect paint. 


54 

It is not always the largest company that manufactures- 
the best goods. Sometimes a small firm will produce a 
better article. The tendency to use inferior gums in the 
manufacture of varnish has been brought about by com¬ 
petition. When a visitor to the factory of a prominent 
varnish company, seeing large quantities of the common 
gums on hand, asked the superintendent where his Zan¬ 
zibar gum was, he was told that it was all upstairs in 
cases ; but more than likely there was none of it within 
the building. There is no doubt that there is very little 
of the so-called Zanzibar gum used to-day in the maufact- 
ure of varnishes. 

When a salesman carefully opens a paper disclosing 
a beautiful specimen of that gum, and in whispers 
confidentially tells you that his company is the only 
one that uses that kind of material in the manufac¬ 
ture of their goods, it is not good judgment to believe 
him. It requires some months to learn the exact quality 
of a varnish after the car has been covered with it 
There is no doubt that some is better than others ; but 
no one manufacture is the best. Ask a dozen railroad 
superintendents whose varnish they use and there will be 
a dozen different makers named. It requires a young 
man, as purchasing agent, to withstand the frequent 
and patience-trying assaults of varnish salesmen, many 
of whom are unfit to sell any sort of goods, while others 
may gain their object by seductive argument. It is 
better, perhaps, in the case of varnish, to limit the use of 
it to the product of two or three manufacturers only. If 
good selections are made, comparative tests will show 
which wears the best. Circumstances vary. To preserve 
the paint on cars a covering of some sort must be used. 
Where a road runs along the seashore and the salt air is 
very trying, the best varnish is soon worn off. It is 


55 

quite noticeable that unless the car is turned occasionally 
the side towards the sea will show cracks and wear, while 
the opposite side may not be in the least affected. Nothing 
about a railroad looks so untidy as illy varnished and badly 
painted cars. Besides being less expensive in the end, it 
is good taste to keep all rolling stock in the very best 
order. 

Many roads have adopted special colors for their 
cars, and these are prepared and furnished already mixed 
for use. This insures a uniformity in color and saves the 
time and expense of the painters in mixing their own 
colors. Mixed paints, however, like the general run of 
oils and varnish, are most of them of doubtful com¬ 
pound. Where one kind is offered at a dollar and 
a half a gallon and another at ninety cents, it is not 
unlikely that the cheaper of the two is the better and 
more durable; but it would not be wise to acton that 
supposition all the time. 

All stations and other buildings, like the cars, should 
have a uniform and standard color. A neat station 
building, well painted and surrounded by well-kept 
grounds is indicative of a desire to please the public as 
well as of good management and prosperity. The build¬ 
ing, well primed first with the best white lead and then 
painted with the standardcolor, will not require as much 
subsequent attention or expense in the matter of paint¬ 
ing. The difficulty is to find something that will meet 
all requirements. Even with competition and the liability 
of getting inferior goods, there is no doubt that the stand¬ 
ard of railroad supplies is better to-day than it used 
to be, in the face of the declaration of some old-timer, that 
the times are changed and that to get the same good 
quality of material that we used to get thirty years ago, 
is out of the question. 


56 

If the choice of paints and varnish is left absolutely to 
the opinion of some foreman and the selection of oils 
to the judgment of an oiler, there is danger at once of 
not only bad material, but a strong likelihood that the 
company will pay more for the goods than they are 
worth. A foreman who is previously “ fixed ” by an 
enterprising salesman will recommend anything which 
in the end will be a source of profit or gain to him. This 
is commonly done, and if the man does not get what he 
calls for, immediate complaints follow. If such men 
would exercise a little intelligence—unfortunately for 
themselves they do not—there would be small chance of 
any one being the wiser for their dishonesty. It is 
sometimes an economical move, when special products 
are specified in requisitions, to purchase something 
else. 

The sooner an employe understands that profiting by 
his position beyond the salary he earns will not be 
countenanced, the better it will be for the company. 
Too much confidence in the opinion of some sly foreman 
whose silence passes for wisdom, may not always be well 
placed. The paints, varnish and oils make up a large 
portion of the expenditures. The ends are reached when 
the right qualities required are purchased at the very 
lowest possible prices. 


Car Wheels and Axles—Iron and Glass—Metals and Lumber. 

The use of well made and reliable car wheels is abso¬ 
lutely essential to the safety of travel and transportation. 
Every railroad company will find it economical to pur¬ 
chase the best. One accident resulting from the failure 
of a single wheel may be a source of damage that would 
pay for wheels enough to meet all requirements for ten 
years. Even the best of them are liable to break, but 
the danger is materially reduced when a company makes 
it a rule to buy nothing inferior in this line. Cast-iron or 
chilled wheels for general use are most common. Some 
roads use a steel-tired wheel for passenger cars, and they 
may be the so-called paper wheels or not. For the for¬ 
ward trucks of locomotives and for heavy express cars 
and sleeping coaches or parlor cars, they are very desir¬ 
able ; but the original cost is many times more than the 
old-fashioned chilled wheel. Whether they are the most 


57 


58 

economical in the end for general use is a question. When 
the tires are worn down they may be turned off in the 
shops and be run for many months again, until it is neces¬ 
sary to repeat this operation. 

A steel-tired wheel is not proof against break* 
age. The weather may affect it and the tire break, 
or, as has happened, the tire may come off en¬ 
tirely. Unless a road is in such condition that it can 
afford to use this class of wheels, a cast iron one is, of 
course, the best, and for that road the cheapest. A lady 
speaking of what wonderful uses paper had been put to, 
and expressing surprise that it had even gone into the 
make up of car wheels, asked her friend “ how it was that 
it could be made hard enough to stand the wear and tear 
under a railroad car.’’ He answered, “that by pressure it 
was made harder than iron,and thereby made a more perfect 
surface to run over the rails than anything else.” It is a 
mistaken notion as to the actual part paper plays in the 
so-called paper wheel. It is used merely as a filling 
between the plates and in no way comes in contact with 
the rails. It is even claimed that it serves no necessary 
purpose, and there are some manufacturers who leave it 
out altogether. For freight service and ordinary business 
the special requirement of a wheel is a chill on the tread 
deep enough and uniform enough to stand the consequent 
severe strain. It must also be heavy enough to support 
its load well. 

There are a few companies which buy their iron 
and manufacture their own wheels ; but unless the 
road is very large and so situated that this can be done 
to advantage, it is far cheaper and more advantageous to 
buy them from regular manufacturers. Sharp competi¬ 
tion in this direction has also thrown upon the market 
many inferior and illy-made wheels. The tendency is to 


59 

use a large portion of old material in their make up. 
Cast iron, frequently melted and moulded, becomes 
brittle. The danger, then, in the use of too much old 
material is apparent 

Demand is constant and the expense of main¬ 
taining rolling stock in this respect is very heavy. 
In these days of low prices in iron, railroad com¬ 
panies are reaping the benefit of it. A wheel that 
has served its purpose to the furthest point, under a 
passenger coach, can be put under a freight car and used 
there. This is sometimes done. There is nothing so 
unpleasant in traveling as to ride in a car under which 
the wheels are “flat,” so-called, or partially worn out. 
This defect should be avoided by constant attention to 
their condition, and as soon as they have grown flat, by 
the frequent application of the brakes and sliding on the 
rails, they should be at once removed. 

Attention should all the time be paid to the 
comfort of the traveling public. A disposition to 
economize should not be carried so far that the 
very object for which the road is run is sacrificed. 
The car inspector who mechanically and periodically 
hammered the wheels under every incoming train on his 
road said, that “ so far as he could see, the only good it 
did was to give him a job and please the passengers.” 
There was something in this, although a defective wheel 
can usually be discovered by the application of a hammer. 
Sometimes, however, a cracked wheel will ring like a bell. 
There is unquestionably a feeling of safety when travel¬ 
ing by night in a sleeping car to be awakened by the 
ringing of the wheels while the train is standing in some 
large station. The man who applies the hammer prop¬ 
erly certainly earns his money. 

Axles, too, should be made of the best material 


6o 


for that purpose. Perhaps the mill that uses nothing but 
old horse shoes in the manufacture of so-called scrap iron 
axles produces the best article for a comparatively cheap 
one ; but there are others made from No. i scrap, which 
are equally as good, while muck bar axles, which cost 
considerably more, are no doubt the best. They enter so 
largely into railroad use that while economy should be 
exercised in their purchase, the price paid should be 
enough to warrant the best results. Steel, of course, is 
largely used ; but it may be questionable whether an axle 
made from it serves the purpose any better than a well 
hammered scrap iron one. They are an item of consider¬ 
able expense, in any event, whether made of new iron, 
scrap or steel. They are subject to a severe test all the 
time and should be constantly examined. A broken axle, 
as we know, has often been the cause of endless damage 
and great loss of life. The man who does not see why a 
train should stop for the purpose of having a hot box 
cooled, does not understand that the extreme heating of 
an axle and a subsequent cooling of it is liable to break 
or crack it. 

Iron enters so extensively into railroad construction and 
equipment that it is safe to say three-quarters of all that is 
manufactured is consumed directly and indirectly by rail¬ 
roads. It goes to make up the track in the way of rails 
and fastenings, the latter including the spikes, fish bars or 
splices, and bolts and nuts. It is a necessary feature of 
the cars and engines and serves many other important 
purposes. Good iron should always be purchased, and 
it should all be carefully inspected and tested before being 
put into service. Bad or cheap stock is worthless and dan¬ 
gerous but there is frequently more or less of it mixed with 
the good, which is liable to creep into use unless great care 
be taken. Purchasing it in a haphazard manner is bad 


61 


policy. More attention should be paid to the selection of 
this commodity than to most any other. Compared with 
oil, however, there is much less likelihood of deception, 
and while special grades are necessary for certain pur¬ 
poses, for general use, a good, refined iron will meet most 
any demand. 

Some companies have adopted the use of ordinary 
double glass for their car windows, and it is still 
an open question whether that is economical in the 
end or not. It probably is not, for the best double 
quality French glass is so made that the surface is not 
level, and when put into a car window is soon cracked 
and broken. The jarring of the train and frequent rais¬ 
ing of windows and lowering them with a slam, by 
passengers, is the severest test that any glass can be put 
to in ordinary use. If the surface is bent or uneven the 
slightest jar breaks it ; for while its natural shape is out 
of line on the surface, it is strained more or less by setting 
it in the window sash. A crystal sheet glass, while the 
first cost is nearly double that of ordinary first quality 
French, is undoubtedly the cheapest in the end. Its sur¬ 
face is level and smooth ; it is thicker and heavier and 
will stand more than double the service. Unless one has 
had personal knowledge of the frequent breakages of 
glass, he would hardly believe that it could be any more 
common than the chance breaking of a window pane in a 
private house. To see a car in which the glass is cracked 
in many of the windows, as we often see it, is distressing. 
This should be promptly replaced. The glass in the 
locomotive cab windows should also be of the same 
quality as that in the cars. Results may all depend upon 
circumstances, however. Care in shifting or drilling cars 
in the yard and not allowing them to run full tilt against 
a bumper post or come together, when making up trains, 


62 


with great force, will, to a great extent, save the glass as 
well as other parts. 

The metals are as much a necessary feature in rail¬ 
road operation as anything else, and enter into the 
construction of the cars as well as the locomotives. 
Copper sheets are used for locomotive fire boxes, 
and pig lead, ingot copper and antimony go into the con¬ 
struction of journal brasses and white metal bearings. It 
is not uncommon for a company to buy both the journal 
brasses and babbit metal already prepared for use ; but it 
is cheaper, if there are convenient facilities, to purchase 
the raw material and work it up in the foundry. As fast 
as the brasses are worn out they can be re-melted and 
used over again, up to an extremely economical point. 

Miles of platforms must be maintained, crossings made 
passable, bridges kept in repair, cars made over and 
buildings and stations renewed. For these purposes the 
calls for lumber and timber are heavy and frequent. 
Yellow or pitch pine is one of the most important kinds 
of wood employed, and perhaps the quantity of it con¬ 
sumed exceeds that of any other variety. Spruce, for 
outside use, is almost worthless ; it soon decays, and while 
the cost is considerable, frequent renewals are expensive. 
Yellow pine sills or stringers and plank of the same 
material are best suited for platforms and bridges ; but 
crossing plank should invariably be made of oak to secure 
the longest service. 

The location of a road may be such that other 
kinds of wood, although necessary to be renewed 
often, can be had for so low a price that the yellow 
pine or oak would be too expensive ; but in these 
days of quick and easy transportation and low freights, 
these exceptions are rare. In the purchase of yellow 
pine for building purposes as much, if not more, care 


63 

should be exercised in the matter of sap as in the con¬ 
tract for cross-ties. Sap, however, is a very common 
defect, and little lumber or timber comes into market 
entirely free from it. The manufacture of turpentine in 
the South has destroyed much of the vitality of the yellow 
pine timber, for the trees which have been tapped are cut 
into marketable sizes and shipped to the Northern 
markets. Tapped and sappy timber is not very long 
lived ; but, on the other hand, there is nothing more 
attractive than a stick or board of yellow pine, which 
indicates unusual durability by the presence of the 
natural pitch. It may make a beautiful ceiling or a hand¬ 
some floor, or turned into posts, be very effective. The 
cherry, mahogany, ash and maple that enter into the 
finish and construction of passenger coaches are all 
necessary factors in the general business. White pine 
for ceilings and freight car bodies is another useful and 
often required commodity. In the selection of that clear 
lumber is necessary. Knot holes or loose knots are 
unpleasing to the eye, and no careful carpenter or 
builder would accept such material, except for the 
most ordinary purposes. 

Some companies operate their own express busi¬ 
ness. In that case there are horses and wagons 
to buy, harness to purchase and keep in repair, 
horses to be shod and feed provided. All such pur¬ 
chases should be made with the same idea of economy 
and attention as all other supplies and to the end that 
the business can be carried on to the best advantage. 
Old and worn out horses and dilapidated wagons and 
harness are not conducive to the best results. If the 
horses are strong and suitable for that business they 
should be well kept and well fed. Good judgment will 
direct what course to pursue always. 


General Supplies and Old Material. 

It is a safe rule to follow, that anything which goes into 
the construction, either of track, equipment or buildings, 
should be the best. Care should always be exercised 
against the use of any material, the failure of which may 
be the cause of terrible loss of life and consequent heavy 
damage to the company. All rail fastenings, and, as we 
have seen, wheels and iron should be purchased with 
great care as to quality. 

When it comes to the question of brooms, soap, 
mops and all the supplies which serve, as it were, 
an outside purpose, ordinary, and, in some cases, the 
cheapest goods are the most economical in the end. 
Anything which is liable to be easily wasted should be 
purchased with that idea presumed in every instance. A 
broom will sometimes serve a station agent ora car cleaner 
at home better than it would in use on the road. It may 
be straining the point or idea of economy too far to com¬ 
pel every agent and others on the road who use brooms 
to turn in the old one before a new one is allowed, but if 
such a plan or order is in force, the company will save a 


64 


6 5 

good deal of money every year, in this one item alone. 
Old brooms to sweep out a locomotive tender or to use 
about the coal heap are better than new ones for that 
purpose. All old brooms should be turned in and kept in 
stock for such use. Old lamp burners, which also are more 
or less of an expense, should be sent in before new ones 
are delivered. If the storekeeper has a tinsmith employed 
he can repair them, perhaps, and save a new one en¬ 
tirely. The disposition to call for new material, 
when a little solder will put the old one in its origi¬ 
nal condition, is very general, as we have seen. The 
same man who will economize because he is obliged 
to, at home, and wear patched clothes to save buying 
new ones, will throw away his lantern because a hinge is 
off, and call for new one, a dozen times a month. It costs 
him nothing. 

The soaps and paints, chalk, bunting, hardware, 
dusters and shovels, all go to serve their special pur¬ 
poses, and the quantities consumed and wasted are unusu¬ 
ally large. In the use of all these articles, circumstances 
will tell what should be good or best in quality, and 
what not. When it comes to any material which either 
goes into the construction or maintenance of way or 
cars, or serves some purpose in the running of trains, like 
signal oils, lamps, burners and torpedoes, great care 
should be taken in the purchase and inspection of 
them. 

Bunting of which signal flags are made must neces¬ 
sarily be the best and the colors of it fast. Flags soon 
become soiled, but they should never be used so long 
that there will be any doubt as to whether the signal fly¬ 
ing in the distance is a green, red or white one. We 
often see an old flagman at a crossing waving a soiled 
and worn out flag as a matter of form more than anything 


66 


else, and it would be a question, doubtless, in his mind 
what the color of it originally was. 

On some roads the size of all signal flags has been very 
much increased, so that they can be distinctly seen at 
long distances. This is very advisable. A small signal, 
hardly larger than a pocket handkerchief, is out of place, 
and in case of necessity might fail to serve its purpose 
altogether. 

The quantity of cotton and woolen waste required in 
the service for wiping, as well as for the car boxes, is very 
large, and there is no economy in buying cheap grades 
for either purpose. A good woolen waste in a car box 
will last longer and do better service than a cheap colored 
one, while the cotton waste for wiping engines, if white 
and clean, will be worth twice as much as a dark colored 
and dirty grade. One would hardly suppose that the 
average “ wiper” about a railroad round-house could ex¬ 
ercise an over nicety in such matters, but, as a matter of 
fact, he will be as particular about the quality of waste he 
uses as a gourmand is about his dinner. Better, then, 
please him by providing waste at an extra cent or two 
per pound than to encourage losses by forcing him to use 
something inferior, with which he is dissatisfied. 

So long as lamps are in use in cars, it will be necessary 
to provide chimneys for them, and these, too, must be 
the best flint; for the breakage, which is constant any¬ 
way, can be very much reduced. Common lamp chim¬ 
neys will pop off like water bubbles and cover passengers 
with showers of glass. An unreliable glassware firm will 
mingle three-quarters bad to one-quarter good chimneys 
in the same barrel, and insist upon it that they are all the 
very best. While there are simple tests to be resorted to 
to determine between so-called flint and lime glass, it is 
not always possible to discover the difference, until actual 


6 ; 

use. This, however, is like telling the difference between 
toadstools and mushrooms—“ if they kill you, they are 
toadstools ; if not, it is reasonable to suppose the vegeta¬ 
ble to be a mushroom.” 

Perhaps the most satisfactory way in the matter of 
lamp chimneys, as well as in all other supplies about 
which there is likely to be any question, will be to pay no 
bills until the quality is determined by usage. It is a 
noteworthy fact that under such circumstances guarantees 
are often unintentionally fulfilled. 

Many supplies are shipped in boxes, crates, barrels or 
cans, and it is not uncommon for business firms to make 
additional charges for such packages. If paid, the accu¬ 
mulation of such useless materials is very large. Always 
return all barrels or cans and make the necessary deduc¬ 
tion from the bills, if this can be done conveniently and 
without much expense. Let any company whose supply 
bills are heavy figure up the money paid for packages and 
cartage during a year, and it will then learn what a large 
sum has been uselessly expended. 

What some firms lose in the sale of their goods, they 
make up in the package and cartage charges. 

So much depends upon the switches and frogs, that 
they should be purchased from the very best manufac¬ 
turers. They should be replaced as soon as they become 
worn or out of order. A train in the ditch on account of 
a defective switch point is much more expensive than a new 
switch. In these days of interlocking switches and signals, 
however, dangers from this cause are very much lessened. 

Signal lamps should be made with great care and every 
attention paid to the matter of draught, so that there may 
be no danger of the lights going out in a high wind and 
bad weather. While much may depend upon the man in 
the signal box or tower, he is less likely to make expen- 


68 


sive mistakes when he is provided with the best ap¬ 
pliances in the way of switches and signals. 

Reliable clocks are absolutely necessary. Every sta¬ 
tion should be provided with at least one, both for the 
convenience of passengers and the station agents. In 
fact, at all places on the road where a timepiece must be 
consulted, a clock is necessary. The signal man in the 
tower and the flagman at the crossing must have some 
means of being informed of the time, besides, possibly, an 
unreliable watch. On one road over which trains were 
unusually frequent, it was once deemed necessary, for the 
convenience of the flagmen, to provide each one with a 
three-minute glass, so that trains could at least be kept 
apart that space of time ; but it was found in some cases 
that the men either neglected to set the sand running 
when a train went by, or else after turning the glass they 
forgot to notice when the sand had all passed through. 
The consequence showed that trains were often running 
dangerously close, or came to a full stop, by a 
red flag, and were unreasonably detained. Up till 
now, to the eyes of one who is able to tell time 
correctly, the best method is a reliable and well- 
regulated clock. 

The objection to a sand-glass for keeping trains apart 
arises from the fact that the sand is so affected by the 
weather that it will not run regularly, and in a damp or 
wet season is apt not to run at all. This, besides the 
likelihood of carelessness in its use, renders such a device 
out of place for that purpose. 

Tires for the locomotive drivers must be frequently re¬ 
newed, and the necessity for the use of the best steel for 
such purposes is apparent. We have not yet reached the 
same perfection in the manufacture of this commodity as 
has been acquired abroad, but perhaps the American tires 


6 9 

are plenty good enough. Doubtless, the notion that an 
imported article is always better, on general principles, 
than one of domestic manufacture, has as much to do 
with the quality of foreign steel tires, and even rails, as 
anything else. 

To sum up briefly : the ordinary or general supplies 
consumed in the operation of a railroad include almost 
everything that is known to trade. Even tobacco for 
the gratification of the taste of a gang of men out on the 
road with the snow-plow helps to fill the list. A pur¬ 
chasing agent need not feel at all surprised to be some 
day presented with a requisition for pleasant weather. 
Perhaps there might be no question as to the quality 
there, but possibly he might not be able to find it in the 
market. If he did it might be damaged in transit. 

The old material or scrap accumulated on railroads 
amounts to many tons each month, and if sold to the 
best advantage will materially reduce the original cost of 
the new. It consists of old rails, wheels and iron, old 
rubber, rags and steel, and in fact a large percentage of 
nearly all the principal articles which railroad companies 
purchase and use. On many roads little attention is paid 
to the sale of scrap. As it accumulates it is often dis¬ 
posed of in a hurry to the first comer, who, buying at his 
own price, realizes a handsome profit on his investment. 

The sales of the old material should be left in the hands 
of the purchasing agent, who, if he shows any shrewdness 
in buying, ought to exercise the same ingenuity in selling. 
His duty is to buy at the lowest prices, and sell whatever 
he has to sell at the highest. The buyers of old material 
are plenty. Engaged in the business are the lowest order 
of junk dealers and the wealthy firms that have grown 
rich in that class of trade. Most railroad scrap has a 
fixed value in the markets. Quotations for old rails, car 


70 

wheels and wrought iron can be found in all the trade 
journals, but, as in buying, one can usually find what he 
wants at prices less than the market prices, so in selling 
he can often find a buyer who is willing to pay more than 
the regular quotations. The purchasing agent who makes 
the conduct of his department a careful study can econo¬ 
mize and save for his company as much in the matter of 
scrap iron or old material as he can in judicious buying of 
the new. On the line of the road the accumulation of 
links and pins, broken and unfit to use, old spikes, bolfs 
and nuts, and the parts of cars or engines lost or broken 
by the jarring of the train, is something very large. It 
should all be collected and sent to the nearest convenient 
point for disposition. When we consider the thousands 
of brake shoes, draw heads and grate bars and other cast 
iron parts used up in the service, and when worn out 
thrown into the scrap heap, we do not find it difficult to 
imagine the large quantity of this material accumulated 
from day to day for sale. Rails are constantly wearing 
out, taken up and sent in at convenient times of the year, 
and as they have served their purpose, they are only 
valuable as old material. The hundreds of car wheels 
which are annually worn out help to increase the quantity 
of saleable material and go far toward reducing the cost 
of the new. Bridge rods and other wrought iron parts 
and useless and condemned fish plates all go into a com¬ 
mon pile and help pay for renewals. 

It is a noticeable fact that on some roads so little 
attention is paid to disposing of old scrap that the 
yards are littered with it and every available storage 
ground is covered. Old material is not an interest- 
ing sight. One often wonders what there is in it to 
make it valuable. He sees a barrel of washers, and 
piles of rusty borings and turnings, and odds and 


7i 


ends of rails, and comes upon an old tank or a stack 
of frogs, and suggests their being thrown away. It may 
happen that distance from the market places a small 
value upon such material, but generally there are buyers 
who are willing to pay a fair price for it. It should never 
be allowed to accumulate in quantities beyond an amount 
sufficient to fetch the best prices, and under no circum¬ 
stances should any company hold it on any presumed or 
imaginary rise in the market. The best rule is to sell it 
as it is collected for what it will bring. Money in the 
treasury is more useful than it is tied up in old rails and 
car wheels. A clean yard and depot grounds are always 
necessary. Scrap iron accumulated there is an eye-sore. 
On roads where the business is heavy and the consump¬ 
tion of supplies considerable, scrap is made very rapidly. 
Under such circumstances sales should be made twice a 
month if necessary. Every department should make 
prompt returns of everything of this nature on hand. It 
should all be carefully weighed and sorted and made 
ready for sale. All transactions should be for cash* 
Selling to junk dealers and small buyers is a bad plan 
when there are always large purchasers who are prepared 
to pay higher prices. As in buying, competition among 
a few reputable concerns secures the lowest prices, so in 
selling the same plan will bring the highest figures. 
By the exercise of a little judgment a good trade can often 
be made. There is always a demand for old iron rails, 
and recently, use for old steel ones has been found, so that 
the prices offered for them is much higher than formerly. 

Not long since an experiment with old steel rails 
was successfully made, whereby they were melted and 
poured into moulds for use as brake-shoes. The result 
showed a casting of unusual hardness, which would out¬ 
wear three ordinary cast iron shoes. This opens up 


72 


an entirely new field in railroad economy, for with or¬ 
dinary foundry appliances, accumulations of old steel 
rails can be worked up and cast into all sorts of shapes 
and patterns for railroad use, to better advantage than 
selling them for a nominal price to outside buyers. 
The stock of iron rails, however, is being reduced 
from year to year, as most roads have replaced iron 
with steel. Rolling mills and factories where spikes, 
fish plates and other rail fastenings are manufactured are 
large consumers of old iron rails and are always in posi¬ 
tion to offer more for them than anyone else. So that 
selling to brokers or middle men, who have a living to 
make, is not economical. Most of them calculate to make 
a commission out of the seller as well as a profit out of 
the consumer. If, however, the disposition of scrap is 
not in the hands of the purchasing agent, and the com¬ 
pany has no direct agent to attend to such business, it 
may be necessary to turn the sales over to some broker, 
but it may not always be to the best interests of the com¬ 
pany. 

A road may be so widely extended and have so 
many leased lines and branches that it would be 
impossible to have the purchase and sales of material 
under one head, but ordinarily this can be done, and 
should be, where the conditions and circumstances will 
permit. Wheels can usually be sold to manufacturers 
for more money than they will bring in the open market, 
but it probably is not good policy to compel the mill 
from which the wheels are purchased to take too many 
of them. It encourages the use of too much old ma¬ 
terial in the manufacture of the new, and while a com¬ 
pany may consider that it is realizing much more money 
on sales of the old wheels than the going market price, it 
does not take into account the inferior stock it is getting 


73 


back, nor that, possibly, when the mileage is reckoned, 
the wheels have signally failed to run as long as they 
ought. 

If the company carries on its own express busi¬ 
ness, old horse shoes, wagon tires, waste straw and the 
bale sticks which come around the hay, and even the 
manure at the stables can be turned to account. The 
prevailing idea, as far as possible, should be to turn 
everything into money which cannot be used or worked 
over again to advantage. A dollar realized from the sale 
of a load of bale sticks is better than a dollar wasted by 
giving or throwing them away. The old plush from the 
car seats, which cannot be renovated, can be sold at fair 
prices always. Buyers of this are plenty. In fact every¬ 
thing which railroads require can be sold for one price or 
another as soon as it has outlived its usefulness on the 
road. 

Too great importance cannot be attached to the 
disposition of old material. The company that sells it 
for the very highest possible prices has more money on 
hand to buy the new with. Twenty-five cents a ton 
above an ordinary price on a large quantity of scrap iron 
represents the value of some other commodity which can 
be turned to useful account. An odd pair of wheels, 
remnants of an old car truck or a car body lying along the 
right of way are not a good advertisement for any line. 
The accumulation of old cast iron scrap is very regular 
and large, and can usually be sold for more than its com¬ 
mon market value to the foundry man who does the new 
work. If his foundry is conveniently near the machine 
shops it can be readily delivered with little expense to 
him or the company. 

While the general methods adopted in the man¬ 
agement and operation of railroads are substantially 


74 


the same on all roads, every company has its own 
individual policy or plan. Circumstances will always 
come in to determine whether it would be best to 
the do some things or others, and good judgment on 
part of the managers and heads of departments will 
dictate what ideas are the best. But there is no doubt in 
any case that the road should be operated with the main 
idea toward economy. The income from freight and pas¬ 
senger business may be immense, but if there is na 
attention paid to the little details of expenditures, and 
supplies are accumulated and wasted, and the old ma¬ 
terial is not made to turn in every dollar it will bring, we 
may look for a day, sooner or later, when the dividends, 
will be passed and the stock worthless. 



Pay-Rolls. 

Besides economy in the purchase and distribution of 
supplies, the one great matter of importance on railroads 
by which money may be unnecessarily expended or 
judiciously saved, are the pay-rolls. The number of men 
required for the proper operation of a road is very large. 
Clerks, station agents, operators, trackmen, freight- 
handlers, engineers and firemen, conductors and brake- 
men, engine cleaners and watchman, all go to make up 
an army of employes and swell the monthly pay-rolls 
to enormous figures. 

It is first necessary to have no more men than are 
actually required for the safe and efficient conduct of 
business and then to know that they are properly paid. 
The tendency, as it is in the purchase of materials, is to 
have more men on the rolls than are wanted. Every 
division superintendent and head of department has a 
line of friends to look after and in their efforts many times 
to provide steady employment for them they not only 


75 


;6 

make selections which are injudicious but which tend to 
increase the pay-rolls to an unnecessary amount. Not 
that railroad employes are any more apt to shirk their 
work than those engaged in other business, for in some 
departments they perform long and hard days labor and 
earn well their wages every month; but on account of 
the vast numbers engaged there is always a likelihood 
of finding some who, even when they have but little to 
do, are in the habit of either letting some one else do 
it, or else consume double the time required for the per¬ 
formance of it. The usual rule is that in the offices the 
tendency is towards having too many clerks to attend to 
the ordinary details—but among other classes of em-‘ 
ployes we will find foremen and assistant foremen, over 
a gang of men who would better perform their work if 
there was but one head to direct. 

Attention should all the time be directed towards con¬ 
densing and consolidating duties as far as possible in such 
way that but one man, if he be competent, shall have the 
responsibility and direction of affairs in any one depart¬ 
ment or sub-department. The old adage that “ too many 
cooks will spoil the broth ” fitly applies in cases where 
every head feels that he must have under him a special 
number of assistants, besides those who directly do the 
work. It is very pleasant for the head of a department 
to delegate the duties of his office to others and play the 
king, but it is not economical for the company. 

It is a fact that any one, whatever his capacity, can al¬ 
ways do a little more than he thinks he can. Many will 
spend the day wondering how they shall accomplish the 
work before them, while others will take hold with a will 
and do it, not thinking of what they have to do, but what 
they have done. As we have seen, some system or plan 
adopted, and this is always necessary for the careful con- 


;; 


duct of a business, may so simplify the duties that the 
force necessary may be comparatively small. But few, 
however, are apt to so consider it. It is always difficult to 
make one believe that he has too many men on his rolls, 
but simple for him to call for more help on some presumed 
increase in the business. The fight in this particular 
on railroads is constant. Men, too, like old material, 
accumulate and should be disposed of. Certain seasons of 
the year may require an increased force in some depart¬ 
ments. Instead of all going at the close of the season, 
many will be found on the rolls afterwards drawing their 
salaries regularly and wondering why they are not dis¬ 
charged. They have been overlooked. When dis¬ 
covered and asked to leave, it is after they have drawn 
two or three months pay that they ought never to have 
had. Pay-rolls should be overhauled frequently. Sal¬ 
aries should be made to correspond with the amount of 
responsibility or labor required, and the idea should be 
to cut down, as in requisitions for supplies, to a basis of 
actual necessity. It will never be possible to secure the 
services of men who are all workers, nor to be certain 
that all who, if they are drawing more pay than they are 
worth, will tell of it, although there are instances of the 
latter class. The aim should be to reach that point as 
near as possible. 

The great success or failure of any road depends largely 
upon the employes and the selection of the right men 
for the right places indicates rare judgment and ensures 
success. Inexperienced or cheap help is detrimental, 
where the class of work requires the best. An inefficient 
engineer or an inexperienced brakeman may be a cause 
of untold damage, while a careless clerk may waste 
more than his salary every month. 

The pay-rolls as they are made up by the different 


78 

departments should be prepared carefully and system¬ 
atically. In departments where the force of men is large 
an alphabetical arrangement of names is indispensible, 
and all employes engaged in the same line of duty should 
come together on the roll. This will be necessary to 
the rapid and correct payment of them by the paymaster. 
The most important requirement of all is to have the 
rolls handed in promptly and regularly every month. It 
is not economical to have no fixed time for the pay days. 
Employes need their money and should get it regularly. 
Any road on which the men are paid at uncertain times 
may be subject to incalculable losses. It provokes dis¬ 
honesty and carelessness. The road which is bankrupt 
and forced to pass its pay day to some indefinite time, 
is hampered always by the poorest class of servants in 
the market. 

When the rolls are in, the paymaster should proceed 
after due notice to all and without delay to pay them off. 
Plans vary on different roads, but the fundamental prin¬ 
ciples are rapidity and correctness. On roads which are 
extensive it is absolutely necessary that there be a pay¬ 
master. In some instances it is nceessary to have more, 
but in any event every man on the rolls should be paid 
personally by some one who knows him, and except, 
under very special circumstances, no pay should be 
drawn by proxy. There should be a pay car run spe¬ 
cially. It is impossible to get over the road for this pur¬ 
pose to advantage in any other way, unless the road be 
so small that haste is not required. The car should be 
arranged to suit the circumstances, and should be con¬ 
venient both for the paymaster and the men. Employes 
should be required to come into it orderly, passing up one 
way and out at the other. It should be partitioned in 
such a manner that one end only is used as a pay end. 


79 

To have the men pass entirely through the car is perhaps 
not as convenient. Anxiety to be paid first prompts men 
to struggle and fight for place, but this should under 
no circums tance be allowed. They should come in 
headed by their foreman, according to their arrangement 
on the rolls. To pay them out of order—first a brakeman, 
and then an engineer, or trackman, consumes too much 
time and calls for an unnecessary handling of the rolls. 

The best method of notifying men that the pay car is 
coming is by flags. Sending telegrams ahead is not 
always a sufficient notice. Night men may not know 
of it and trackmen be entirely omitted. Some colored 
flag which cannot be mistaken for any other signal in 
vogue, should be placed upon the forward end of a lo¬ 
comotive of a regular train and carried over any division 
the day preceding that on which the pay car is due. This 
is complete, while trackmen and others not apt to know, 
will be on the look-out, at some regular time in the 
month. It is surprising, however, how quickly the pay car 
is scented. There is nothing that will prompt an employe 
to jump higher and run harder than the whistle of the pay 
train as it comes up around the curve to the station. 
Men have been known to forget their own names and do 
other foolish things under the excitement of drawing their 
month’s wages. When the pay rolls are not so numerous 
that it would be impossible to arrange them in that way, 
a portfolio should be provided, arranged with pockets to 
accommodate the various rolls, according to the class of 
employment. The pockets may be such that the name, 
time and amount due each one can be seen at a glance. 
This consolidates the rolls and they are not then lying about 
in danger of being lost or destroyed. When the number 
of employes is so large that it would be impossible to spare 
the time to every man who can write, to sign his name, 


8o 


his mark should be made. The names can all be written 
up later. Ordinarily, it is an excellent plan to have the 
signature of every man who is able to write, on the pay rolls. 
The majority of men, unfortunately, especially the track la¬ 
borers, are unable to write. Even when they cannot, some 
of them are slow to admit it and plead haste as an excuse 
for not doing so. The fellow who said he could not write 
all his name, when requested by the paymaster to sign 
the roll, but offered to write as much as he could, after 
some deliberation, made a cross on the sheet, with all the 
nicety he could muster. 

All section men or track laborers should come in for 
their pay in order. They should have general orders to 
the effect, that when the pay car signals are carried, 
they must go to the nearest station the following day 
and await the arrival of the car. This does away with 
frequent stopping between stations and prevents a chance 
of fraud or robbery. There would not be time to ask every 
man on the roll how many days he worked in the pre- 
ceeding month and wait for him to make his calculations, 
in finding out, but the paymaster should take occasion to 
do this from time to time. Mistakes are not uncommon 
in making up the rolls, but it is a noticeable fact that the 
majority of men, unless they have worked a full month, 
never remember the exact time they were employed, so 
that their answers may not be reliable, although they be 
perfectly honest. 

The regulations covering the payment of monies should 
be rigid. Paying it over on orders should never be done, 
unless in cases of sickness or accident or a proper ex¬ 
planation given. A rule to the effect that, unless one is 
on hand in person to draw his wages, he will be obliged 
to wait until the following month, will have a tendency 
to bring every one out. So long as the pay car is run 


8i 


over the road, for the express purpose of meeting all em¬ 
ployes, there is no reason, except in cases of accident, 
sickness or death, why one should not be on hand, after 
due notice. It will never happen but once, if he is not. 
It should be the paymas ter’s duty always to make his pay 
trips with all speed, which, in addition to satisfying 
the employes, will save fuel and the expense of train 
hands who run the car. But the speed should not be 
such as to invite accident. The train hands for that pur¬ 
pose should be the best in the service. 

The method employed in paying out money differs 
on the different roads. In any event it should be paid 
rapidly, and the car should be arranged to that end. A 
card system, for roads which are not too large, makes 
a very convenient form of receipt, and does away with 
the rolls themselves being signed and necessarily soiled. 
But they should be cashed immediately, and money, of 
course, carried in the car for that purpose. If the rolls 
are numbered and each individual name is also numbered, 
the cards can be readily found. Different colors for the 
different months will avoid any mingling, mistakes or 
confusion, and if a safety cardboard is used there is no 
danger of erasures or changes. Paying men by check 
will do very well under some circumstances, but a road 
running through a sparsely settled country does not give 
one an opportunity to get his money without standing a 
discount to some storekeeper or tradesman, although 
this danger may be avoided by previous arrangement. 
The best and most satisfactory return for one’s services 
is immediate cash. That encourages better attention to 
business, and relieves men from possible annoyance or 
inconvenience. 

It is best to have every name called out or given dis¬ 
tinctly to avoid any chance for mistakes, and the pay- 


82 


master should be familiar with the faces of all. He may 
presume upon knowing his man without having his name 
announced, but among large bodies of men there are 
always striking resemblances, hence the possibility of 
paying the wrong one unless great care be exercised. 
So far as Italians are concerned, and they now form 
one of the most interesting as well as necessary features 
in the operation of railroads, it is better to give them 
numbers on the rolls rather than names, although un¬ 
doubtedly some coveted title may be thereby con¬ 
cealed. Among this class of railroad employes resem¬ 
blances are common, and as they speak no English, there 
is little chance of getting any information from them as 
to where or how^ much they may have worked. They 
should never be paid unless their foreman be present. A 
cage of jabbering monkeys could not be a more amusing 
spectacle than a gang of Italian laborers receiving their 
month’s pay. Stops should always be made at principal 
points, where there are large numbers of employes en¬ 
gaged, long enough to give every man an opportunity to 
receive his money. There should never be a chance for 
him to offer as an excuse that he had no time. The one 
who stands by and deliberately lets the car move off with¬ 
out an effort on his part to get his pay is not entitled to 
any great amount of consideration. 

The pay department can be made very systematic, and 
should be always. Laxity here may be a source of loss. 
The paymaster should not simply be a medium through 
whom the wages are distributed. He should note care¬ 
fully any apparent discrepancies; see whether the one 
who is drawing a large salary is worth what he gets, and, 
in fact, should act as an inspector of the rolls, as well as a 
paymaster. Men are employed whom the heads of 
departments perhaps never know, except as their time 


83 

is turned in from a distance by some assistants. The 
paymaster knows them all, and they know him. In fact, 
he is the only one connected with the road whose identity 
among all the employes is absolutely certain. He should 
be decided in his manner, but not disagreeable. It is 
not for the best interests of the road to have a curt and 
abusive paymaster. Men should not be brow-beaten and 
subject to insults when they come to draw their well- 
earned wages. They are entitled to a reasonable amount , 
of respect, unless they belong to a class which are so con¬ 
stituted that they are not appreciative under any circum¬ 
stances. In that case, the less attention paid them the 
better. Pay car robberies are not common, but every 
precaution against such a mishap should always be taken. 

It may not be necessary to carry along a whole load of 
fire-arms, but at least one revolver is indispensable. This 
may better serve its purpose by its looks rather than its 
use. Paying off thousands of men distributed over a 
wide extent of country is close, confining work. It re¬ 
quires a man whose constitution will well stand early and 
late hours, and the strain and anxiety in being responsible 
for thousands of dollars, and young and active men are 
better fitted for such duties than old and inactive ones. 
He may be one of the most important officers of his com¬ 
pany, and ferret out frauds and dishonesty which might 
never be discovered. The selection of a man for the posi¬ 
tion should also be carefully made. 

The old saying that “ any one can make money, but 
not every one who can keep it,” applies as well in railroad 
management as anywhere else. The pay-rolls may be 
the loophole for untold waste. 


Employes—Their Government and Treatment. 

The success of a road depends also to a great extent 
upon the manner in which the employes are treated. 
Next to paying them regularly what their services are 
worth, the most important consideration is good treat¬ 
ment. No road, however, can be satisfactorily operated, 
except under rigid discipline, brought about by the issue 
of reasonable, and, at the same time, precise orders. No 
orders should be issued unless they be enforced. Books of 
rules and regulations, which are full of instructions, but of 
which few are carried out, do not in any way tend to improve 
the service. The effect of a few regulations for the govern¬ 
ment of employes, in the most necessary directions, is better 
than a library full of dead letters. Smoking or drinking 
while in the discharge of duty should be decidedly prohib¬ 
ited. In fact, employes, as far as possible, should be selected 
on account of their temperance proclivities, but of course 
to secure the services of men who without exception are 


84 


85 

•strictly temperate is out of the question. Train men, 
while on duty in the passenger service, should be re¬ 
quired to be civil and orderly. To hear a brakeman bawl 
out the name of a station in an unnecessarily loud voice, 
and to have him bang the doors, is a great annoyance 
and discomfort to travelers. To allow him to engage in 
conversation and put himself upon a familiar basis with 
the passengers is not good taste. He will pour into their 
ears full accounts of all his grievances, and, perhaps better 
treated by his superiors than employes on most roads, is 
apt to leave an impression that he is a much abused 
fellow. 

A uniform should always be worn by all conductors 
and brakemen of all passenger trains. A combination 
uniform, however, made up of a blue coat and bright 
buttons and an ordinary pair of citizen’s trousers, all 
surmounted by any sort of a hat with a badge on it 
indicating the position, is very bad form. A neat uni¬ 
form and orderly conduct indicate a well managed 
road. The caps worn by train men on some roads are 
not only too large, but are ugly in appearance. It is not 
necessary to have so wide a cap piece, that there is 
danger of mistaking the wearer for a horse jockey or a 
ball player. A narrow, straight front is the trimmest 
and best. A cap pulled down to the ears, and worn 
toward the back of the head is loaferish and disorderly. 
It is not perhaps possible to teach men how to wear 
their hats in all cases, but if the rules on this point are 
enforced the effect will be noticeable. 

In large stations before the trains leave it is customary 
for conductors and brakemen, both, to direct the passen¬ 
gers, as they come through the doors or gate ways. There 
should always be order there. It is not business-like for a 
train hand to bolster himself against the side of a car, or 


86 


lean for support upon a neighboring railing. It makes one 
feel as if his train would surely take him to his destina¬ 
tion behind time. To induce travel and make any line 
popular, civility, order and neatness on the part of 
brakemen and conductors are absolutely indispensable. 
Gatemen or doormen, too, should be subject to the same 
regulations. Some of them are apt to feel that they have 
reached the climax of human ambition when they are 
privileged to punch tickets at the door. Civility on their 
part should be required; not that they are always in 
fault when they forget themselves, for sometimes pas¬ 
sengers are very unreasonable; but by being civil them¬ 
selves they may set a good example to some pink of 
perfection, who regards all railroad doormen as insolent 
fellows. 

Regularity and promptness are always essential. 
Some men are invariably late and others have a sur¬ 
prising faculty for either being a little ahead or just on 
time. Rules, however, which call for both regularity and 
promptness are necessary. Trains must be run, and any 
well regulated railroad must have those trains run on time, 
as near as possible. Circumstances will prevent at times— 
a smash up ahead, delayed connections, a hot box, or a 
snow storm will interfere, but as a general thing there 
should be no excuse for delays. 

Proper attention should also be paid to the protection 
of trains, so that rules governing the duties of train men 
in this regard should be rigid and plain. An order once 
issued should be enforced to the letter and the only 
penalty for disobedience should be immediate dis¬ 
missal. Discharging men one day for cause, and tak¬ 
ing them back again the next, is directly opposed to 
good discipline, which once broken is demoralizing. 

^ Rules concerning the cleanliness of cars and sta- 


87 

tions cannot be made too exacting, for in both par¬ 
ticulars the popularity of the road is at stake. As 
we have seen, that too many foremen to direct any 
one class or body of men may have a tendency to 
interfere with the successful performance of work, 
still there should be a sufficient head to ensure the 
most satisfactory results. The selection for such posi¬ 
tions should be made always depending upon fitness 
in every particular. Friendships or relationships, except 
in cases of ability, should be left entirely out of the 
question. The one to whom is entrusted the responsi¬ 
bility of any special duty, who is able to perform it in the 
shortest possible manner, with the least expense, is a 
valuable man anywhere. A foreman should, however, 
have the respect of the men under him; without it his 
authority is apt to be lightly treated, while the interests 
of his company suffer. Sharp and abusive criticism, 
without genuine reasons, is depressing, and never has 
the desired effect; better discharge a man forthwith 
than to spoil his disposition by unreasonable com¬ 
ments. A clerk who is abused and chided without cause, 
is apt, in his anxiety, to lose his judgment, which 
might be well directed were he gently reminded that 
mistakes would never be countenanced. If it is necessary 
to make repeated criticism, there is likely no hope for the 
man, and his position should be filled without delay by 
some one else. 

Little attentions to men without compromising the 
dignity of one’s position, are the most productive, at 
times, of good results. The man, in whom, if he be 
at all deserving, one takes more or less of an apparent 
interest, will accomplish more for him, as his superior, 
than a capable fellow, who, somehow or another, can do 
nothing that will ever please. Human nature, in some 


88 


respects, is not the same the world over; unless one has 
certain qualities in him, it would be impossible to impress 
the necessity of those qualities upon him, so that he could 
act upon them, but as there are always some who are 
just right, it is a mark of good judgment to select from 
among that class. Even the lowest order of humanity is 
susceptible of decent treatment, although, as exceptions, 
there are those who are better satisfied with abuse than 
with anything else. Some are so unappreciative that they 
take every favor for granted and are disposed to com¬ 
plain, because it may not cover more, while others take 
all they can get, without comment or question. 

If, however, the general tone or policy of a railroad man¬ 
agement is toward the comfort and welfare of the em¬ 
ployes, the general effect is far better than it might be 
otherwise. It tends to encourage the exercise of one’s bet¬ 
ter judgment and induces him to devote his best attention to 
his duties. There is something for him to work for then, be 
yond going through a fixed routine and a mechanical per¬ 
formance of his business. Reading rooms and comfortable 
quarters established at terminal stations on the road, or 
other points where trainmen lie over , will not only tend to 
keep them from patronizing neighboring saloons and fool¬ 
ishly spending their wages, but will serve to educate them 
to a certain extent. Money expended for such objects will 
be well invested. The effort on the part of the company 
should be to create harmony and good feeling among the 
employes. This is a sure means of accomplishing such 
a result. The unappreciative ones of course will take 
such liberality for granted, but the majority will look upon 
it in the right spirit. The wholesale distribution of tur¬ 
keys over a road at Christmas is not often done, but it is 
a noteworthy fact, that in cases where such generosity 
has been extended, that some have even been so unreas- 


8 9 

onable as to complain because the weight of their turkeys 
varied a half pound from that of their immediate associ¬ 
ates. 

The railroad company that interests itself in its em¬ 
ployes to the extent of assisting them in providing for 
their families when death or sickness prevents them from 
earning a livelihood, has done as much to increase its earn¬ 
ings and reduce its expenses as it could by most any other 
outside means. Relief associations encouraged and put 
in operation among the employes, will always be success¬ 
ful. While such societies, by reason of comparatively 
-small contributions may not be able to make extravag¬ 
antly large allowances for death, sickness or injury, they 
will be large enough to make a temporary provision, at 
least, for the wants of a family which is directly depen¬ 
dent upon the wages of its head for support. A dollar or 
so each month, out of one’s wages, put into a common 
fund, may bring a good many dollars in time of need or 
distress. A good many engaged in employment, at 
moderate salaries are provident enough not only to put 
aside a portion of their earnings each week or month to 
use in case of necessity, but also make provision by insur¬ 
ance, against death or accident. But the majority of men 
spend all they get and look upon insurance societies as 
schemes to mulct them out of a portion of their hard 
earned wages. If one considers the matter carefully, he 
can readily see what a deal of benefit he is likely to derive 
from a very small outlay. Employes in some branches 
of railroad service are constantly in danger of accident or 
death. Relief associations or mutual benefit societies to 
them may be of unlimited value. A company should, for 
its own good, as well as that of its employes, start the 
nucleus of a relief fund by a generous contribution or 
guaranty. But how few railroad owners think of such 


90 


matters. The struggle is to cut down and economize in 
directions, which, as far as they go, are well enough, but 
while so much, perhaps, can be figured as saved on the 
pay rolls, the many losses that may creep in from a neg¬ 
lect of the welfare of the men, are not once considered. 

It would never be advisable under any circumstances to 
pay a man more than he is worth, nor to encourage a spirit 
of luxuriance and ease by throwing open doors into ele¬ 
gantly furnished rooms and parlors, where books and 
papers were carelessly lying about for his pleasure and 
information; but there is a happy medium here which 
can be easily reached by a manager of good sense, and 
who has a disposition to get all the work and attention 
out of a man that there is in him. Human nature cannot, 
under ordinary circumstances, be subject to too much 
unusually good treatment and survive. The average 
man who receives more than he deserves will sooner 
or later rise to the situation and demand still more. 
Some men go to pieces as quickly over prosperity as 
they do over reverses, and there is always danger of 
unfortunate results unless great care be taken against 
too much good treatment. 

To crowd one to the point where he feels that he is 
imposed upon and to take advantage of his circumstances 
to accomplish supposed economical ends will, in the end, 
prove expensive and unsatisfactory. It is satisfactory to 
know, however, that some have made a move in the right 
direction and the examples are well set. Regard for 
their interests does much to keep men from organizing 
injurious labor unions, and prevents to a large degree 
those disastrous calamities, which, in these days, we call 
strikes. 


NOTES. 


\ 


NOTES. 


One rainy day, I came upon a gang of Italian laborers who were en¬ 
gaged in grading for a railroad. From what I had hitherto seen of this 
class of humanity, I had never imagined that to them it made any differ¬ 
ence whether they were rained upon or not. In this case, however, I 
found every one working with a raised umbrella in one hand and a pick¬ 
axe in the other. Even in a foreign country they were able to exercise a 
reasonable amount of judgment. 


For a free pass over a railroad, the recipient will sometimes treat the 
superintendent to a ten-dollar dinner, when the pass may not cover the 
right to ride more than fifty miles. 

Some men never think of answering a letter, however important it may 
be. They think it just as well to Wait until they see you before making a 
reply. 

It costs almost nothing to be civil. The returns for one small act of 
civility, however, may show a good many hundred per cent, profit. 


As a general rule, the largest and most successful business houses are 
the most anxious for trade, while the proprietor of some small, bankrupt 
institution will drive his customers away by his seeming independence. 


A large, coarse woman once came into a crowded railroad car, and 
after looking in vain for a vacant seat, deposited herself and a dozen 


93 







94 


packages next to a delicate young man. She occupied so much room and 
made herself generally so disagreeable that the young man was forced to 
retire from his seat, for which she did not even thank him. When the 
conductor came through to collect tickets, she learned that she was on the 
wrong train. The young man was doubtless repaid well for his inconven¬ 
ience. 


Some men are always behind time. If it is getting up to breakfast or 
catching a train, they are invariably late. I have in mind one man who 
is never on time to keep an engagement, and if he breaks it altogether, he 
never thinks of apologizing for his neglect. If all creation set about to 
break him of this habit, they never would succeed. 


Very often the lowest subordinate and the one who gets the least pay 
will assume more authority than the head of the house. I have been into 
offices where the messenger boy was of far more consequence than the 
senior member of the firm. 1 have seen him bristle up and appear -more 
disturbed by a civil question than a man buried under the press of a large 
business. 


Some men always have an air of having more to do than anybody 
else. You will be pretty certain to find that those men not only do not 
have enough to occupy their time, but are even neglecting what little 
they do have on hand. 


When one has anything to buy, it is bad judgment for him to express 
too much of a desire for what he wants, to the seller. If he does, the 
seller will be pretty certain to make the sale before he leaves, and the 
buyer will discover, when too late, that he paid more for the article than 
it was worth. 


I am inclined to think, if a man feels that he cannot say too much in 
favor of an article in the sale of which he is interested, that there must be 
something the matter with it. 


Some young men are unwilling to begin at the bottom in business and 
work up. They want to jump immediately into the highest positions. 
Some will call themselves assistant bookkeepers or assistant cashiers when 
they are only office boys. As soon as one becomes ashamed of his cir¬ 
cumstances or feels above his business, he sacrifices his chance of suc¬ 
cess for his pride. 








95 

In every community there are some who expect to get'all their profes¬ 
sional services free. I knew one man who was in the habit of getting his 
medical advice without cost. One day he happened into a drug store, and 
meeting one of the village physicians there he remarked that he had 
a bad pain in his back, and asked what he should do for it. The doctor, 
who had already had some experience with the fellow, replied that if he 
were in his place he would hunt up a physician, get him to prescribe for 
his trouble and pay him for his services. Perhaps he took the hint. 
Others are accustomed to get all their legal advice without expense, par¬ 
ticularly in the country. They will sit all the morning in a lawyer’s office 
and propound supposed imaginary questions, and then go away and act 
upon the information they get. 

The notary public who was in the habit of making the affiant hold up 
his right hand and swear that “ the affidavit subscribed by him was as 
true as such darned things usually are,” had as good a notion of human 
nature as any one. 

I can’t understand why a responsible man will knowingly guarantee 
more for his goods than they will stand, in order to effect a sale; but we 
often find him doing so, and in the end losing a good customer. 


The world is made up largely of spendthrifts, high livers, economical 
men, stingy men and misers. 

We often see men who are thoroughly superficial, but by reason of 
great cunning they are able to deceive the best readers of human nature 
for a long time. Such men have a faculty for pretending to know a great 
deal about something they know nothing about, and are often given to 
excessive exaggeration. The quietest men are not necessarily the wisest, 
but they often pass for that, while the one who talks too much is in great 
danger of showing how little he knows. 


When one exaggerates, he little thinks that others may have abundant 
means of getting at the real truth of the matter. He is very much like a 
child who thinks he is hiding when he stands in a corner and shuts his 

eyes. 








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